


Never Did Run Smooth

by ToDefineIsToLimit



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Acting, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Bad Puns, Denial of Feelings, Fluff, I Tried, Multi, Pining, Platonic Cuddling, Polyamory, Slow Burn, Theatre, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-06-08 17:53:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 42
Words: 60,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15248724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToDefineIsToLimit/pseuds/ToDefineIsToLimit
Summary: Virgil believes that your significant others should always be your best friends.Logan believes you should only be in a relationship if doing so makes you happy therefore all types of relationships are valid if the people involved are satisfied.Roman believes in people being predestined to be together, whether that's as friends or something else.Patton believes love is when you share everything with someone and he has a lot of love to give.Let's face it guys, these boys belong together. They are literal parts of the same person.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay first of all thank you to my friend Jocey_Frost for editing for me! I have never understood punctuation and probably never will so it's nice to have help.  
> This is my first fic so if it's terrible just know that I never promised it would be good.

The first day of high school, in Roman’s not so humble opinion, was simultaneously nerve-wracking , boring, and certainly not worth his time. He couldn't wait ‘till lunchtime when he could meet up with Jaden and make lots of new friends. Unfortunately, he had to sit through four hours of class rules, name games, and confusing schedules before he could get there. 

By lunchtime, he was feeling noticeably less perky than when he walked into school that morning. He walked down the hall to the cafeteria and suddenly stopped, causing several people behind him to crash into him. Roman apologized quickly and made his way over to what had caught his eye. 

There was a bright blue poster on the wall proclaiming, “ACTORS NEEDED". Why did no one tell him this school had a drama club? He obviously was just what they needed. In smaller lettering underneath the title, there were more text explaining how their club needed new members and met every Monday and Friday after school. Roman pulled out his phone and took pictures of the poster. He continued on to the cafeteria practically buzzing in excitement for that afternoon.

Lunch did not go exactly as expected. Roman found Jaden holding a plate and standing in the middle of the cafeteria looking confused. Eventually, after searching during most of lunchtime to find an empty table, whilst letting their pizza get cold, they settled down at the end of an already inhabited table. 

“So how did your day go?” Jaden asked. Jaden already looked pretty dejected and Roman didn't want to bring him down more with his own frustrations. 

“Oh well, they have a drama club!” He said trying to sound upbeat “I'm gonna join this afternoon. You wanna come?”

“Oh uh... no thanks.” Jaden said. Roman knew he wouldn't come but offering never hurt. Jaden saw theatre the way Roman saw American History; old and boring. Despite that, Jaden never tried to discourage him. 

“Actually, I heard there’s a drama club earlier. There was a kid sitting next to me in English. Didn't talk to me at all. Just looked at memes on his phone under the table. Then the teacher mentioned we'd be partnering with the drama club for our Shakespeare unit, and the kid's head snapped up and he started asking questions about the club. After about the third question, the teacher finally stopped him and said we needed to move on. He seemed really excited which was weird considering he’s like really emo. Why would he wanna be on stage?” 

“That could have just been the way he dressed, Jaden, you can't decide what he's like just from that.” 

“I know, I know, sorry. I'm just really nervous today. I haven't actually made any friends in my classes, and we don't have classes together, and I just am concerned ya know?” 

“I completely understand how you feel. Let's fix it!” Roman enthusiastically slides down the bench closer to the group of people who had the table first. 

“I'm sorry, but do any of you gorgeous people know where the drama club meets?” Roman asks with his most winning smile. There was a kid from his math class in the group. Their name was Joan, if he remembered correctly, and next to them sat a girl who seemed unimpressed. 

“Uhh… probably in the auditorium.” The girl says pointing to a large sign that had arrows pointing in the directions of the gym, the bathroom, and… the theatre. Well Roman was horribly embarrassed, and it was definitely time to make a quick escape to save what was left of his and Jaden’s pride.

“Oh! Well, my thanks to all of you! In that case, my squire and I really must be going,” Roman stood taking on the persona of a gallant knight but Jaden remained sitting and looking shocked, “Isn't that right Squire?” He said nudging Jaden. Jaden looked up at him seeming confused and scared.

“What?” It looks like Jaden had just discovered the true meaning of fear. Sometimes this guy just could not keep up. Roman was forced to give up on his dramatic entrance. He pulled Jaden off the bench and stomped off. Hauling Jaden by the arm. 

Perhaps this was of little consequence in the long run but Roman was beyond frustrated. It's not like it had been a difficult joke to run with. At first that interaction had been salvageable, but at that point it was just ruined. Roman supposed he could at least look forward to the club this afternoon…


	2. Virgil joins the club

Virgil was standing outside the door to the theatre wondering if he should go in or not. He shifted from foot to foot. Was five minutes before too early? His indecisiveness continued for another few seconds before another boy passed him and entered. Before the other boy went in, he glanced at Virgil, registering something like recognition. 

Virgil caught the door before it fully closed and followed the boy in, figuring that the boy's presence meant it was no longer too early. As he entered he was immediately… underwhelmed. There was a stage and a large number of seats but an extreme lack of people. There were five people sitting in a circle chatting happily; one of which was Mr. Wynne, his English teacher. 

“Ah, Virgil, I'm glad you could make it!” said the man. Great, just what he needed. A nerdy English teacher acting like they were buddies. This was sure to boost his street cred. Mr. Wynne glanced at his watch and cleared his throat. 

“Well it looks like this is about it. Hello, everybody! For those of you who don't know, my name is Mr. Wynne and I'll be overseeing this club. Now, first thing we should discuss is that Virgil here will be our behind the scenes guy. We already discussed it and he agreed to lend us a hand with things like sets, costumes, lights, music.”

“Whoa, that's a lot more things than you mentioned earlier!” Virgil said panic creeping into his voice.

“You'll do great!” Mr. Wynne said dismissing his concerns. “Now I know that we have a small group this year. Only three, four, five actors! Or is that six?” Mr. Wynne addressed the boy from before. 

“Yes six!” The boy grinned, “I'm Roman by the way.” Virgil almost scoffed at the weird name but soon realized he didn't have a leg to stand on. 

“Great! I hope you're all excited for a great year of theatre because our first production will be a classic: The Tempest by Shakespeare. I personally am really excited to get working on it. It is tradition after all.” Mr. Wynne said looking excited. Whispers of dissent rolled through the small group. Virgil nervously raised his hand.

“Yes Virgil, did you have a question?” Mr. Wynne said.

“Not so much a question, but a comment. I uh hate to be a buzzkill, but don't you need a ton more than six people to perform The Tempest?” Virgil pointed out. Mr. Wynne looked a little unhappy.

“This is the play we always begin the year with. We can simply double up on rolls and I'm sure we'll get some extra additions to our club before the play.” He said sounding unsure.

“I know I'm new to this club Mr. Wynne but, even doubling up on rolls won't be enough. Not to mention but you can't have the person playing Prospero also playing something else. We also can't guarantee that we'll get more actors.”

“Well we don't just put other people's ideas down here. Do you have any alternate ideas for how to handle our shortage on actors?” Mr. Wynne started sounding defensive. Virgil thought for a moment. 

“Well you could always do a different play. It's exactly not keeping with tradition but I don't think anyone would notice. This doesn't seem like the most popular club...” Virgil said quietly letting his bangs fall in his face. Suddenly Roman spoke in his defense. 

“Quite right! And this would draw attention to us so we might be able to gather new members.” He seemed to be in deep thought.

“We could do something just a little more modern,” suggested one of the upperclassmen “people might be more interested in at least attending the plays if they understood what the characters were saying.” A fair point in Virgil’s opinion. Mr. Wynne sighed heavily.

“It looks like I am hopelessly outnumbered. Shakespeare will wait. I want you all to figure out what play you want to do you can have the rest of the time to discuss it.” He walked away and sat in the third row of seats and pulled out his phone. 

Virgil suspected he was pouting because Shakespeare had been voted out. Virgil was still looking at Mr. Wynne when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He about jumped out of his skin. 

“Hey dude! What was your name? Verne? I'm Sammy. Anyway thanks for taking up the backstage stuff cause’ I was probably going to end up doing it, but I love acting and just thanks. Also thanks for helping us convince him to not do The Tempest, I freaking hate that play.” The girl laughed. Virgil quietly wondered how she had gotten “Verne”. 

“Uh it's Virgil, actually. And your welcome, I guess.” He hid behind his bangs not used to this much attention. The girl laughed loudly and punched his arm playfully before turning away to join the discussion. His arm hurt.

Eventually, they settled on The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. The cast was much more limited with only eight characters, two of which were servants who could both be played by the same person. They would just have to bet on being able to get one more actor. Roman swore up and down he would be able to find someone.

Virgil was actually happy with this choice, not his favorite play by any means but at least it was doable. Not to mention, he wouldn't have to manage as many special effects for this one as he would have had to for The Tempest. This wasn't going to be too bad. He glanced around at the group. He decided it could be a little fun.


	3. Logan Made a Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello something I've forgotten to do and now feel terrible for  
> These characters aren't mine, I'm just borrowing them  
> I should have done this earlier but you live, you learn.  
> Also the play I mentioned "The Importance of Being Earnest" it's also very not mine  
> I don't know if this was necessary but like I feel bad for not giving credit.

Logan thought it was absolutely absurd that he was expected to do the homework when he already had proven he knew the material. It was a complete waste of his time. He didn't need the practice. He was so confident in his skills he had offered to take the quiz early. 

He wasn't expecting teachers to be able to challenge him. He understood that if he simply did the work and enriched himself further outside of school, he would gain more benefits. Seriously though, what was the point of the homework if he already knew how to do the work?

He tried to reason rationally with Ms. Jones to no avail. She was steadfast in her belief that homework was undeniably helpful. So here he was. Wasting valuable time that could be spent researching for his list of colleges and universities he'd like to apply to. If all went as planned, he would be able to graduate early, so of course he would need a list ready when the time came.

Logan reminded himself, for what was likely the seventh time that day, what this was all for. He just needed to get through high school with a 4.0 GPA and some extra curriculars. After that he would have his choice between some respectable colleges. He would then gain a career that would support him comfortably. No more homework, no more inept “peers” mocking him for his necktie. He sighed, three weeks into school and he was already looking forward to graduation.

He pushed thoughts of the future from his mind and focused on the next math problem. He kept at it until he was finished the sheet. He adjusted his glasses on his nose and looked over his work. Everything checked out, he pulled out a folder and neatly slid the page into it, and put it back in his backpack.

He had some time to research before his dad called him for dinner. He sat on the couch and his dad placed the plates on the coffee table. Logan prepared himself for the question.

“So how was school?” His dad asked as usual. 

“Oh, just another mind numbingly effortless day,” Logan said trying to keep bitterness out of his voice. His dad laughed at that. Logan wasn't sure why, he was being completely serious. He didn't mention the homework disagreement. His dad didn't need to worry about his debate with the teacher. Logan had it well in hand.

“How was work?” Logan asked. His father laughed ruefully. 

“Well, I don't think I'll be getting promotion anytime soon. Apparently a customer claimed I hit on her. They wouldn't tell me who but they said I could get off with a warning this time,” his dad sighed and looked up at him, “I see that look. No buddy I didn't hit on anyone…. intentionally.” His dad said rolling his eyes. Logan held up his hands placatingly.

“You can't blame me for being curious.” He said. His dad looked at him for a moment and ruffled his hair. Logan felt his hair sticking out in several different directions.

Logan huffed, half joking, half actually frustrated. They ate the rest of the meal in silence. Not awkward silence, Logan noticed gratefully. He got enough of that during school. 

What would he give for just one intelligent person in his math class? One person who didn't look at him like he was an idiot for correcting the teacher. Unfortunately, the one class he shared with anyone he could tolerate was gym, and no one could help him there anyway.

After they finished their meal, Logan grabbed the plates from the coffee table and took them to the sink. By the time he got back his dad was turning on season four of Mythbusters. His dad adamantly believed that season four was the best season and Logan could recite most of the episodes from memory after how many times they had watched it. He settled on his side of the couch. He did a mental tally of the explosions in the experiment. 

After they had watched two or three episodes they headed to kitchen and washed the dishes together as they did every night. Logan scrubbed and rinsed his dad dried and put away.

“So,” his dad began as Logan scrubbed the last dish“did you make any friends in your classes today?” Logan passed the dish and huffed. He didn't wish to disappoint his dad and say that yet another day had passed without Logan gaining a healthy social life. He mentally scanned his day for any halfway pleasant conversations. To his surprise one jumped out at him.

“Patton Gaudy. We aren't exactly friends but he is quick witted… in his own way… and he has been nice to me.” Logan said trying to sound sure. His dad burst out laughed.

“What?” Logan demanded. His dad slowly stopped laughing and put the last plate away.

“Sorry it's just... I ask you if you've made any friends and you basically say yes. Except then you do it in the most formal way. You gave me his first and last name. I don't know kid; it was just odd.“ His dad smiled and ruffled his hair again. He rested his hand on top of Logan’s head

“Night kid.” He said and left the kitchen. Logan didn't know what was wrong with giving him Patton’s full name. His dad had wanted to know who his friend was, and he told him. Where was the problem? He shrugged to himself and shuffled off to his room.


	4. Patton goes into advertising

Patton adores high school.The freedom to do practically whatever he wanted to was amazing. It was really fun to be able to choose whatever he wanted to do in his classes. He obviously didn't enjoy all his classes, but every day had good moments. That was enough for him.

It was strange how many people he considered friends after just five weeks of school. He had his friends from middle school, then his lunch friends, and friends from his classes. He would walk down the hall and high five people, or hug them if he hadn't seen them yet that day. 

Except for the people who didn't like hugging or touching like his newest friend. Maybe friend was a stretch. Logan didn't seem to consider him a friend but Patton had decided to treat him like one until he actually was. 

The good news is Logan seemed to warm up to him a little recently. He no longer threw confused looks Patton’s way anytime Patton sat by him. They had a few conversations and Logan was cool. Practical, honest, perhaps not the life of the party but parties aren't for everyone. 

Patton tried to imagine Logan at a party for a second. He could practically see the other boy standing stiffly in the corner as people danced and moved around him. Patton smiled at the thought. This was the reason Patton was sure Logan would never go to homecoming even with all the work Patton had put in.

He couldn't believe that planning the dance was left entirely with the student council. He had been placed on selling tickets seeing as the dance was only two weeks away. He was going to be stuck in a booth with his student council T-shirt for all of lunch today. He only had to do it for three more days then someone else would take over. Still, this was a whole week where he didn't get to hang out with his friends during lunch. 

He walked to the cafeteria and crossed to where his booth was situated. He was surprised to see a second booth with a considerably shorter line selling tickets to the drama club’s first production of the year, The Importance of Being Earnest. He had heard of that play before but didn't know what it was about. 

He watched the two kids running the booth. They fumbled around with the money of the few customers they had. There was another boy shouting loudly at the people in the homecoming line trying to draw attention to their less popular booth. They were all so passionate about it. Patton smiled to himself and sat down in his booth and began selling tickets. 

Around the third customer he heard the shouting boy say “I will now express how much we need you to buy tickets through interpretive dance!” And he did. The majority of the choreography was upbeat, and kind of desperate, pointing toward the booth. One of the boys who was helping run the booth face palmed. 

Suddenly, someone knocked on Patton’s table. His head snapped back to the customer. He had gotten distracted by the boy. 

“May I please buy my ticket now?” The girl huffed. Patton smiled apologetically and handed her a ticket. As he put the money in the cash box he glanced over at the dancing boy who had surprisingly gathered a few more customers. 

“I suggest you buy a ticket from them too,” He said looking up to the girl who was sliding the tickets in her wallet. She glanced at the boy and smirked.

“Yeah, I think so.” She strutted over to the other booth and bought a ticket. Patton really wanted to see this show and if they didn't get enough money, they may not be able to do any more shows after this. So Patton advertised. He smiled a sunny smile at everyone who came to his booth and made bad puns that got them to grin.

“And don't forget to buy a ticket to the play!” were always his parting words. A shocking number of people took his advice. The line steadily got shorter until about halfway through lunch when it finally ended. Patton started locking up the money box and got ready to put away the folding chair he was sitting on. He was focused on the money box when he heard someone clear their throat. He looked up and saw someone he could honestly say he didn't expect to see in this line.

“Hi Logan, you need a ticket right?” Patton said hoping Logan wouldn't correct him for some reason. Logan pulled out his wallet and sighed heavily.

“Yes, I suppose so.” He said sounding disappointed. Patton smiled brightly

“Okay, that's fifteen dollars then.” Patton said holding out his hand for the money. Then a thought struck him. He wanted to ask but he couldn't, that would be rude. He battled internally while Logan counted out the money. The curiosity finally won out.

“No date?” He said trying to sound uninterested. 

“No, I'm afraid my dad insisted I go. He says I need to talk to people more; outside of school hours. He seems to also be hoping I'll go to the dance with someone.” Logan said factually. Patton's stomach did a flip flop and suddenly his thoughts were running at a mile a minute with questions, all of them focused on a central one. Should he ask Logan to the dance?

The thought came out of nowhere. Until that second, Patton hadn't even realised he thought of Logan like that. But in the moment it took Patton to think all of this, Logan had a chance to continue.

“I don't think that a relationship of that nature would be beneficial to me right now.” Logan said thoughtfully. Pattons heart sunk just a bit. Well that was a nice two and a half seconds he thought. Patton didn't want Logan to go into something he wasn't prepared for so he wasn't too disappointed. He made it a point to smile even brighter. It was for the best anyway. He and Logan were barely starting to be friends now, he didn't want to mess it all up.

“Well enjoy the dance!” He said while giving Logan his ticket. “Also enjoy that dance while you go buy a ticket to their show. I earnestly think it will be a good time.” Patton said gesturing to the still dancing boy. 

“Wow, I didn't know you were such a Patton of the arts.” Logan said without missing a beat. As soon as the words slipped from his mouth, his surprise with himself was evident on his face. Patton grinned at Logan as he excused himself quickly. Logan did buy a ticket to their show.


	5. A Makeup Lesson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't actually know anything about makeup but please don't be mad at me if I present anything less that accurately.  
> If the mistake is really bad just let me know.  
> Please don't bring out the pitchforks and torches.

Roman was pumped. They sold so many tickets that week that the theatre was going to be almost full. Sure they hadn't generated enough interest in the play to warrant a second performance, but still, almost every seat would have a person in it. It was likely because of the fantastic dance moves he had used to draw in customers. He would not stand for Virgil’s comments about it being a small theatre and therefore not much of a feat. It was a perfectly normal sized theatre, thank you very much! 

Not to mention this is a lot better than when they started in August. They even had eight actors now! Roman was certain even more would join after they saw this production. Everyone was putting extra hours in, especially Virgil. Roman had to feel bad for him; the poor guy was taking on a workload that shouldn't be humanly possible. 

He was attempting to take responsibility for set, makeup, costumes, and lord knows what else. He seemed to be running around like a madman and was accepting no help. Luckily for Virgil, Roman didn't ask if he could help. 

Roman strutted into the theatre holding a bunch of hangers with costumes on them. Virgil had no sense of fashion and Roman certainly wasn't going to trust the costumes on him. He had some (a lot of) help from his mom with the sewing when necessary, and he bought as many parts of it as he could. Finally, the outfits were done. Roman laid them across one of the chairs in the front row.

“Hello?” He said loudly his voice echoing around the theatre. Mr. Wynne popped out from behind a curtain on stage. He looked down at Roman and smiled warmly.

“Hey Roman! Did you need something?” He said walking toward the middle of the stage.

“Yeah, I'm finding emo. Have you seen him?” Roman said smirking. He knew Virgil was somewhere around here and would hear him. This theatre echoed like crazy so every sound got magnified. Just as Roman expected, a mutter came from backstage. 

“Yeah, my whereabouts have been a hot topic lately.” Roman scooped up the costumes and made his way backstage. He entered the room with a flourish. Unfortunately, Virgil was sitting with his back towards him so he didn't see the flourish. Roman frowned. What was more important than his cool entrance? He stepped closer and saw Virgil was sitting in front of a mirror with… a makeup brush in his hand. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, you wear makeup? That's a thing you do?” Roman asked. Virgil turned to him and Roman winced internally. Virgil looked like… well, he looked like a raccoon. 

“No, as you can see I’m,” he sighed “not great at this." Virgil gritted his teeth. 

“Why are you doing this?” Roman asked. 

“I- I just wanna help. I'm not part of the cast and I need to be useful and I said I could do makeup, and- and I can't do makeup, and I'm going to ruin everything- I've been sitting here for an hour, I've tried redoing it three times, and it's not getting any better, and if I can't do it when I'm practicing how will I be able to do it on Friday when I'm already stressed.” He said this while glaring at the foundation. 

“It's okay. Here watch the master at work.” Roman picked up a pack of makeup wipes. He wiped away the thin layer of makeup he had put on that morning. 

“Wait you-" Virgil started. 

“Yeah. A light amount. I try for more of a subtle look than what you got going on there. Luckily for you, I am an excellent teacher! Alright, first thing to think of is lighting. The lighting affects how it looks to the audience, so makeup onstage is a tricky business.” Roman said picking up a brush. 

Virgil nodded along for the next fifteen minutes while Roman slowly went through all the necessary steps. He eventually turned to Virgil who looked calmer. He didn't seem like he was considering setting the eyeshadow palette on fire.

“Okay, the next thing is stay relaxed okay? You still have a week and you finished the set, and I finished the costumes so-"

“You what?” Virgil glared daggers at him. 

“Hush, I'm having a moment- and I finished the costumes so you can spend this week just practicing, and when you think your ready, call me so you can practice on someone else. Don't worry about it anymore tonight. Panic isn't conducive to the creativity required to do makeup.” Roman said jokingly.

“Heh, okay, fair enough.” Virgil grabbed for the makeup wipes. “Time to try and get this off.”

“I'd leave it; it captures your essence.” Roman said sauntering away. He went and sat on the edge of the stage and just inhaled the smell of the dusty theatre. It was oddly satisfying. When he first walked in here, it had felt heavy and old, but with the amount of time spent here over the past few weeks, it didn't feel old anymore. This place was where his mind was all the time lately. 

Jaden was getting sick of him constantly talking about the play or asking him to run lines with him. Roman couldn't help it, he would not let the art suffer because of him. He had to know those lines on time. He had no doubt he did know those lines now. He could deliver them better than anyone else on the cast would be able to, but that much was a given.


	6. Basketball Stinks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Virgil and Patton meet, finally! I've been waiting to get to post this chapter.

Virgil was sitting in the back of the theatre during lunch. He had his legs kicked over the armrest and his feet on the the seat next to him. That offense alone was enough to send Mr. Wynne on a hour long rant about thankfulness and privilege. Luckily, Mr. Wynne wasn't here so Virgil could relax. 

He, for once, had his hoodie off. He was sitting in just his grey t-shirt to cool off. He had gym before lunch and most days left the locker room sweating, and more than a little exhausted. He would go to the theatre and sprawl across the chairs, his whole body happy to stop moving for the short thirty minutes of lunch. Today he had to let go of the hoodie for a bit. If he didn't, he was sure he would die. 

They had played basketball. A sport Virgil thought he liked in concept but realized he hated while playing. It was all running. Why? Why must he run? He suddenly longed for the days of soccer. At least then he had been able to stand about ten feet from the goal and “play defense". God, he missed that. 

He was stretching out further to get comfy when his stomach growled. Traitor. He resisted the urge to growl back. That wouldn't help anything. He tried laying there flipping through his phone a minute more. Maybe of he ignored it a minute more it would go away. 

It growled again.

He groaned loudly and hauled himself up out of the chairs. He slid his phone into his pocket and pulled his hoodie on. He walked slowly out of the theatre. He may need food, but damn it if he was gonna let that stop him from being lazy. He walked to the cafeteria avoiding eye contact with all the people he sort of knew. There was no reason to make this trip more painful than necessary with awkward interactions. 

Virgil got into the lunch line and grabbed anything he deemed edible. In the end all that amounted to was a slice of too greasy pizza and an apple. As he stepped out of the line and turned to go back to the theatre, his eyes landed on someone. 

The kid from the homecoming booth. The one who had been sending them customers. Virgil hadn't gotten a chance to talk to the kid. He wasn't sure if he had even bought a ticket to the show. Virgil knew someone should thank him. After all, if it weren't for him they probably wouldn't have gotten as much attention. They probably would have had to cancel the performance.

Someone should definitely thank him, Virgil decided. Suddenly his feet were moving toward the table where the boy sat. Before he knew it he was standing next to the kid who was turning his direction. Virgil panicked and turned to walk away, but it was too late, he had been caught.

“Hey did you need something?” the boy asked his eyes landing on Virgil. Virgil turned back toward the boy and scuffed his shoes on the floor. 

“I- uhh- sorry, it doesn't matter, nevermind.” Virgil mumbled trying to slowly shuffle away. The boy smiled kindly.

“You sure?” He asked. Virgil was pinned in place by his gaze. Virgil couldn't just leave without thanking him, look at his face! Somehow this kid had remained innocent up ‘till now, and Virgil knew he couldn't do anything vaguely bad in his presence. He didn't want to be the one who ruined that innocence.

“I just- wanted to say thanks for the help selling tickets the other day- or whatever.” Virgil said glancing down at the floor. 

“Oh, you're one of the people from the booth. That's nice of you! You didn't have thank me! I just saw you all were so excited about it, I couldn't not help. I'm Patton by the way.” The boy smiled holding out his hand. Oh shoot, this was a handshake, Virgil was gonna have to hand shake. 

“Uh Virgil.” He said taking Patton’s hand. Patton shook his hand firmly.

“Nervous?” Patton asked. Virgil pulled his hand away quickly. Had his palm been sweaty?

“N-no why?” Virgil stuttered out betraying the truth.

“Oh I was just wonderin’ why you were shaking” Patton said grinning. The corner of Virgil’s mouth twitched up into a smile. 

“You coming to the show?” Virgil asked after a moment. Patton smiled again. This guy seemed to do that a lot. 

“Yeah I'll be there.” Patton said.

“Cool, see you around then, Patton.” He said.

“See you, Virgil!” Patton said and turned back to what he was doing before. 

Virgil walked away quickly, berating himself. “Cool, see you around"? He wasn't going to see Patton around. He didn't have any classes with the guy! In fact, the only place he had seen him thus far was in the cafeteria and Virgil rarely was hungry at lunchtime. Not to mention, why did he ask if Patton was going to the show? That's none of his business! He was sure Patton felt awkward but was just too nice to show how much he disliked Virgil.

Virgil sighed, resigned, nothing about this situation was new. He found a place to sit for a minute while he quickly ate his pizza. He shook his head trying to clear the gloomy thoughts. Nothing to be distraught about honestly, just a normal day. 

Soon the bell rang and Virgil headed to history.


	7. How does this friend thing work?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I hadn't mentioned this but I had to come up with last names for the boys for this AU so it's Roman Regis, Logan Cuinn, Patton Gaudy, and Virgil Timor. They all had some important meaning but I forgot what they were because I came up with them at like one AM.

If he was honest, Logan had no interest in going to a play. He didn't hate theatre. He just thought there were better things to do with his time. He had just started researching medicinal uses for herbs and was itching to get back. It was really fascinating once you push past all the all the ancient belief systems and old wives tales. One such piece of information that shocked him was the effect of black pepper on the body. Strange that something so common goes overlooked by the average person.

Instead of immersing himself in that, he was here. Back at school filing into the theatre with dozens of other people behind him in line. One look inside told him that half the theatre had been filled before he got there. It was too bad he had already paid for a ticket, or he would have left then and there. No point in wasting the money though. He was still surprised he had bought a ticket. It was Patton’s fault really. 

Logan wasn't sure how this friend thing was supposed to work. People are so easily offended. He didn't want to hurt Patton’s feelings by not buying a ticket. Logan had worked so hard to be pleasant toward him for the past few weeks. It would all be pointless if he messed it up now. He had only just started sitting with him at lunch.

He wouldn't admit it to his dad, but having a friends was... not unpleasant. Except for all those terrible jokes Patton texted him. Logan was not sure how much longer he could stand those.

He started walking down the aisle between the rows to find a seat. He passed about four rows of seats when someone called his name. He turned and glanced around for who it had been.

“Patton.” Logan said walking back in his direction. 

“You came!” Patton said sounding surprised. 

“I believe that was the purpose of buying a ticket.” Logan said adjusting his glasses with a smirk.

“Well sure kiddo, but it didn't seem like your style.” Patton said grinning.

“First of all I'm older than you. Second of all you wanted me to go to the play.” Logan replied.

“You didn't have to come if you didn't want to Logan. But now that you're here, you should sit down it's gonna start soon.” Well at least Logan knew now. Patton wouldn't be offended if he didn't share his interest in theatre. It probably wouldn't be too terrible of he was sitting with Patton instead of a stranger. 

He sat through the play doing his absolute best to not point out how ridiculous the whole story was. He was sure Patton was just joking when the love interests got together and he sighed like it was cute. He had to be joking.

At the end of the play a man came on stage to speak.

“First of all I would like to thank all you kids for showing up tonight, especially those of you who stayed awake the whole time.” The audience laughed at that. “Now as some of you know I am Mr. Wynne and as almost no one knows, I am the leader of the drama club here at WHS. I barely even lifted a finger during the making of this play. I didn't even get to pick the play. It was all the work of a small group amazing kids. So let's hear it for Sammy Montoya, Roman Regis, Alexis Harman, Daniel Scott, Valerie Torres, Elizabeth Blanch, Terrence Williams, and Jaime Kensington.” 

As he called names, kids walked on stage still in costume. They waved, danced, and acted downright ridiculous. The audience clapped and cheered loudly for each one who entered, more loudly for some than others. Suddenly one of the boys, he had entered under the name Roman, ran off the stage. He came back literally dragging another boy by the arm. Logan noticed the new boy hadn't been in the play. Next to him, Patton gasped. The boy onstage jerked his arm out of Roman's grasp.

“Relax Roman, I was going to give him credit” Mr. Wynne laughed “As I was going to say, please give another round of applause for the guy who this play literally wouldn't have happened without, Virgil Timor.” The audience clapped politely but seemed confused. Except Patton who cheered loudly as if trying to make up for everyone's under enthusiasm. People were muttering about how they hadn't seen him in the play. 

Logan wasn't sure how these people made it to high school being so dim-witted. It was obvious that this boy had done the behind the scenes work. Didn't they wonder how the lights changed during the play? Slowly it started to dawn on the people around him with soft gasps of understanding. It was too late though, the moment was over, and Mr. Wynne had continued talking.

“Anyway, that's enough out of me. Thank you all for coming. Please have a good night.” Mr. Wynne concluded. Logan and Patton rose and shuffled out of the theatre with the rest of the crowd.


	8. Patton is Dramatic

Patton tightened the cardigan around his shoulders. He was gonna do this. He was born for this. Well not born for this, but he was ready. Maybe he should be less dramatic. He laughed to himself. He definitely was going to use that one. He took a deep breath and marched into the theatre. He blinked slowly; he had expected their numbers to explode after the play, but it was still the same nine kids he had seen on stage with one or two additions Patton didn't recognize.

Everyone turned to look at him, and a few people smiled happily to have a new person. When Virgil looked over, Patton saw him smile softly. 

“Hiya, I'm Patton. You guys still looking for help?” He asked.

“Of course,” said Mr. Wynne jovially. “We'd appreciate any help you can give Patton! Please sit, we were all just reviewing our performance with the show the other night.” Patton settled in the circle in between a girl with long brown hair and Virgil.

“I still say Sammy should have been more coquettish in her depiction of Cecily!” said a boy confidently. 

“Stop telling everyone what to do Roman.” said a girl in camo cargo pants. Patton assumed she was probably Sammy. She did sound like Cecily from the play. 

“Honestly you can't order people around you're not the prince,” Virgil said rolling his eyes. Roman turned to Patton.

“He thinks he's so edgy now that he wears eyeshadow,” Roman said in a stage whisper. Virgil hissed. 

“Boys please!” Mr. Wynne said exasperatedly. Patton took a moment to glance over. Virgil was indeed wearing eyeshadow. It wasn't a large amount so it’s only noticeable when you looked for it really. It worked for him though.

“Okay, I have decided to just skip over the review. We'll move on. Next thing I want to address is you, newbies.” He looked at each new person individually, looking at Patton last. “Can I ask why you all joined the club?”

“I just hadn't realized this school had a drama club until I saw your booth in the cafeteria. I would have joined earlier if I had known. I just moved here this year so I'm still getting settled." Said one older boy. He looked like he was maybe a junior, but Patton wasn't sure.

“And what's your name?” Mr. Wynne asked smiling kindly. 

“Hugo Silver.” 

“Great! How about you?” Mr. Wynne said to a girl. 

“Elana Carter, I just like musicals and I kind of came here on an impulse and I should probably go. I'm sorry I'll go.” She said very fast, blushing to the tips of her ears. She rose to go.

“Liking musicals is enough. You could stay. We won't make you stay but you could.” Said Sammy who stood up to look the girl in the eye. The girl shook her head rapidly and speed walked out of the theatre. Mr.Wynne looked sad. He finally turned to Patton. Patton sensed now was perhaps not the time to make a pun even though he was itching to

“What did you say your name was?” Mr.Wynne said trying to sound upbeat. 

“Patton Gaudy. I don't have any drama experience and I've never been into acting, but you guys looked like a fun group when you were up on the stage. I liked watching the play. I just wanna be part of it.” Patton smiled. He didn't expect the “awws" he got. He blushed and ducked his head. Quack. 

“Well, you could act in the next production if you wish. Or you could just learn for now and start acting later; whatever you feel comfortable with.” Mr.Wynne said kindly.

“May I help Virgil?” Patton blurted out a little louder than he meant to. Mr.Wynne blinked in what Patton assumed was a surprise before he started laughing heartily.

“Thank god! I mean these guys are great, and you can't have a play without actors, but Virgil desperately needs help.”

“I would take offense to that, but I don't mind the extra set of hands. I don't like to work hard.” Virgil said smirking.

“Sweet Jesus, he smiled! We better get him to a hospital quick. I don't think his face is supposed to do that.” Roman said in a mock panic.

“I don't think anyone's face is supposed to do that Princey,” Virgil said pointing at Roman.

“Oh, sick burn.” Whispered the girl next to Patton.

“That's not even- that nickname isn't even clever, so there!” Roman said loudly. Patton’s self-control finally snapped. 

“So Virgil, you’re saying Roman can be a royal pain?” Patton said with a small smile on his face. That earned him a few laughs and a small smirk from Virgil.

Mr.Wynne tried desperately to get them back on topic so they could discuss what play would be next. After a few minutes, he gave up trying. He went to go sweep the stage.

Somehow they eventually got around to the topic themselves.


	9. The rest of freshman year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Breaking news I'm lazy. I didn't feel like writing out the rest of freshman year. Plus not a ton happens so here ya go.

The drama club was rarely as productive as it should have been if we're honest. It was mostly little bits of work mixed into the bickering.

It wasn't easy on Patton; he didn't know anything about what Virgil needed him to do. All of the skills he needed were new things to learn. He was making a couple new friends though so that was all that really mattered.

It was easier on Virgil; he knew he wouldn't have made it through this year without Patton’s help. He was extremely grateful. He didn't know how to show it specifically, but he was pretty sure Patton knew.

Roman throughout the year ended up losing touch with Jaden and he didn't understand why. Nothing had changed. Well except when Jaden fell for this one girl and they started dating. Then he stopped sitting with Roman at lunch. Okay, on second thought, that was probably a large part of it.

Mr. Wynne could often be found on the brink of madness. He could not maintain any semblance of control over these kids. Most times, all the work got put off until the last three weeks before the play. The club grew to a core group of twenty-one kids. There were sometimes visitors, but they would come and go. When they were preparing for the last play of the year they really pushed it too close to the deadline. They all started meeting during lunch to practice and work extra. 

Logan, of course, hadn't noticed at all that Patton was not sitting with him at lunch. He, after all, had not changed his routine at all for the other boy. He didn't notice the distinct lack of puns while he tried to read. He didn't start waiting outside the drama room to be able to walk with Patton to class. He simply happened to be walking by there at the time. He certainly didn't notice when Patton still hung out in the theatre even after the last play of the year had been performed.


	10. Damn the Scheduals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First day of sophomore year!

As he walked through the front door of the school for the first day, Roman was ready. This year was going to be better than last year. However, he realized socially he supposed he was in the exact same position he was last year. Well no, better actually. He had two friends to start with while last year he began with one. Sammy and Virgil were plenty.

Roman wilted a little at the thought. He was sure Virgil would be angry with him. Roman had allowed himself to not give Virgil and Sammy attention far more than he should have. He had gotten distracted by his romantic dalliance with the girl who worked as a bagger in a grocery store near his house. Roman poured most of his energy into flirting with her. She was, after all, a very nice girl. Roman was not proud of the number of trips he made to that store during the summer. 

The results weren't in his favor. He gave up around mid to late July. It was only then that he realized his mistake. He had reconciled with Sammy but his friendship with Virgil was more fragile. He honestly didn't know where they were sitting. He wasn't ready to face Virgil yet.

As he walked into his first class, Roman realized just how not ready he was. Sitting in the second-row middle seat of the class was Virgil. Roman had hoped he would have a few hours to prepare himself for their reunion. He hadn't expected to see Virgil until he went to the theatre for lunch. There was absolutely no way of avoiding it now. Damn their schedules for lining up this year.

Roman sat down next to Virgil who gave him a nod in greeting.

“Hey, Princey.” Roman fought the desire to cringe. He hadn't expected this nickname to stick. He wasn't bossy, he simply had the best opinions on most topics that could be brought up. Other people had to hear them. 

“Hey, Virgil,” Roman said not wanting to insult him right now, but feeling weird using his real name. Apparently, Virgil found it weird too because his head snapped up to look at Roman.

“What happened, who died?” Virgil said looking genuinely worried. 

“No one, what do you mean?” Roman asked feeling confused. 

“Well, you've literally never called me by my name. Something serious must be happening.” Virgil said letting his bangs fall back in front of his face. How dare he pretend to not be bothered. He probably just wanted Roman to bring it up first. Make sure he knew what he did wrong

“Look if you want me to say it I'll say it, I'm sorry” Roman said grumpily staring ahead at the wall.

“What?” Virgil said glancing at him. 

“I know I ignored you a bit during the summer. I'm sorry for that okay?” Roman said petulantly.

“Ignored me- what are you talking about?” 

“I just got caught up in... girl matters and I did mean to text you more often it just didn't work out.” Roman said miserably.

“Wow uh- okay I was not prepared for this umm- I'm not usually the one to do the reassuring and it's not even eight in the morning- ugh. Look man I don't know what world you live in but I personally don't need to talk all day everyday. I mean you texted every few days. That would usually lead to a reasonably long conversation. It's fine dude. I texted when I wanted to talk to you and it's fine.” Virgil said sounding uncomfortable.

“You never texted me first.” Roman looked at him suddenly offended.

“I know what I said,” replied Virgil with a smirk. Virgil turned back to his phone and didn't talk again for the whole class. Roman wondered how he was getting away with being on his phone while the teacher was talking without getting caught. It was a skill. The bell rang and everyone shuffled out.

While Roman was in fourth period, a text came through his phone. It was an image from Virgil. He clicked on it and immediately knew it was a meme. He didn't actually get it but it was definitely a meme. He was sure that he would start seeing more variations on it soon.

Next was lunch. He strolled into the theatre and was tackled by Sammy who ruffled his hair. He had missed her. Assaulted and slightly less fabulous than a moment before Roman settled in the circle between Terrence and Virgil. 

“You mentioned you were trying to pick up a chick. How did it go?” Virgil asked.

“Yes, I was courting a lady. And for your information, she declined me. More than once” Roman said crossing his arms in front of his chest. He wasn't pouting though. He didn't pout.

“Oh no, really?” Virgil pretended to be shocked “Didn't you tell her you're a prince?”

“I just have forgotten to mention it Brad Pittiful” Roman said with a pointed look. Virgil snorted. Suddenly, Roman was hug attacked from behind.

“Oh sorry Roman, I thought you were Virgil. You know you two have a very similar hair color?” Patton said leaning over to hug Virgil instead. 

“Okay two things: One, I am always wearing this hoodie. How did you confuse me with captain colorful over here, and two, were you really going to tackle me like that, Pat?” Virgil said extracting himself from the hug. 

“Well I wasn't thinking about it. I thought I saw you and I went for it. Don't act as if affection is against the rules.” Patton said waving his finger at Virgil. 

“I'm dark and foreboding, you could ruin my reputation. So yeah, affection is against the rules.”

“I guess I'm an illegal hug dealer.” Patton said clearly waiting for laughs. Roman pretended to cough to hide his laugh. Virgil just groaned like Patton was slowly killing him. 

“You make worse jokes than my dad.” Virgil said rolling his eyes and smiling softly. 

Finally a force had come that was powerful enough to force the darkness back. A smile from Virgil was quite a victory indeed. Roman was grateful for Patton’s presence. He seemed to be the only one who really got Virgil out of his shell. Roman would have to be friendlier to Patton, Roman could appreciate a helping hand in balancing Negative Nancy.


	11. Official Boss of Stagecraft

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was a day late. Time kinda got away from me.

Well Virgil had been looking forward to drama club this year. It had even been fun for the first two weeks. There were less upperclassmen and he was more regarded as the expert on the backstage matters, which was relieving since he was expected to carry out whatever they asked of him; at least they consulted him now. 

Then Roman and Sammy tried to help the club. 

The member numbers had fallen to about fifteen. Not bad but still not enough to comfortably perform The Tempest. They owed that play to Mr. Wynne at this point. They had avoided it all last year and Mr.Wynne would probably go into withdraws soon if he didn't get some Shakespeare. So Sammy and Roman had started a ruthless crusade for more people. 

They went around putting up posters on bulletin boards. They even managed to get the club a spot in the morning announcements. Virgil hadn't heard about this until Sammy’s voice came on over the loudspeaker.

“Alright, we got the actual best club in the school. We just need you, yes you, to come help us. All aspiring actors please join us in the theatre today after school!” She said enthusiastically. Virgil heard a boy a couple seats over muttering to himself while he continued writing in his notebook.

“Ah yes sign me up for professional make believe.” The boy huffed. Virgil rolled his eyes, that guy was so uptight. Who wears a necktie to school?

No matter what that boy had thought, other people answered Sammy’s call. That afternoon, they had five new kids and soon after that, a few extra joined. Virgil knew they needed new members but it would have been nice if they could just stick with the people they already had. No uncomfortable introductions, no awkward attempts at friendliness. 

Everyone else had made friends with their new members, but Virgil was too busy defending his position. Along with the influx of actors came a senior named Lucy who was Virgil but with more social skills. She wanted to take over the building and costume designing and generally just took over everything Virgil loved.

There was a lot of tension in the following weeks. Especially since Lucy really was a nice girl. Virgil had nothing concrete to complain about though. She technically always asked his opinion on changes she made to the set or costumes. Really though, she was taking over because she was older. Not because she had been in the club longer or because she was more qualified. Virgil had worked for such a long time learning to do makeup, learning how to set up microphones, he even learned to use a sewing machine. Now she swooped in making all his work pointless. 

Virgil didn't really know why he even bothered to show up to the club anymore. He was just adding one more person everyone felt obligated to talk to before they make decisions. They didn't really want to hear his opinions. Better to just let her get on with her brilliant plans. So that one Friday a couple weeks after Lucy joined, Virgil just called his mom to pick him up at school when school ended. He hadn't gone to the theatre during lunch and no one had asked where he was so he figured now was as good a time as any to back out.

He was standing in front of the school waiting for his mom when Patton walked by.

“Hey kiddo, what are you doing here?” Patton asked.

“I go to this school,” Virgil deadpanned pointing to the building behind him.

“I know but I thought you were sick today.” 

“Nope I just decided not to come.” Virgil said with a shrug. Patton narrowed his eyes at him. 

“Virgil you can't just decide not to come. Your our guy, I'm actually not sure what your job title is but your the guy.” Patton was looking at Virgil with puppy dog eyes. It was absolutely unfair for anyone person to have that much power. He didn't want to go just to have to deal with Lucy, but he couldn't say no to Patton. 

“Hold on.” Virgil grumbled and pulled out his phone. He texted his mom.

“Hey mom something came up at the club so I don't need to be picked up” Virgil typed out. Immediately a response came through. 

“Your friends saw you waiting didn't they?” his mom said.

“Yeah "

“I knew you would change you mind” she said with a smiling emoji. How was she responding this quickly if she was driving? 

“You didn't even leave the house to pick me up did you?”

“Nope" she responded. Virgil laughed and turned to walk to the theatre with Patton. When they arrived they were immediately greeted by Roman.

“Oh look it's Sick Fury. Where'd you find him?” Roman said smirking, he had probably worked on that one all day.

“I'm pretty sure my ears need bleach to unhear that.” Virgil said rolling his eyes

“Why did everyone assume I was sick?” Virgil said glancing between the two of them. He realized of course that Roman and Patton were hardly everybody, but they were pretty close to it in Virgil’s opinion. 

“Well it's the only reason you ever didn't show up.” Roman said like that was an excuse.

“I'm literally in your first class, we sit right next to each other. You told me all about that weird dream you had. How did you think I was sick? Also you could have texted me.” 

“Well that fever here nor there.” Patton said. 

“You're like a bad pun generator.” Roman said shaking his head and smiling.

“Alright well if you weren't sick then why the heck weren't you here, kiddo?” Patton asked. Virgil’s eyes flicked over to Lucy where she was standing with a notebook. Patton and Roman flowed his glance. 

“Oh, I get it.” Patton’s eyes widened with understanding. 

“I don't, what's wrong?” Roman said, not enjoying being the one who was confused.

“Nothing, Princey. Don't worry about it.” Virgil said. Patton was looking at him sadly. Virgil tried to walk past them but was blocked by Roman. 

“Virgil" he said grabbing Virgil's shoulders. Virgil dipped his head so his bangs would hang in front of his eyes. Roman was too intense, Virgil didn't want to make eye contact. It would be too awkward. Roman wasn't letting go though.

“Tell me what's wrong.” Roman was staring him down.

“It's just Lucy. She's friendly and smart and wants my job.” Virgil said giving in. Roman looked frustrated. Virgil backed away, he knew he didn't have anything real against her. She hadn't done anything wrong. Roman walked off in Sammy’s direction. Of course he was mad Virgil was just causing drama for no reason. Virgil went and sat in the very back row of seats. He leaned his head against the seat back and let his eyes slip closed.

“Kiddo?” Patton said worriedly. Virgil felt regret, and jealousy, and most of all shame. It was ridiculous to make a fuss over this. He should have just kept coming to the club and stayed quiet. He should have let Lucy handle those responsibilities. He should have- His chain of thought was broken by shouting.

“Okay, attention everybody!” Sammy was standing on a folding chair, knowing better than to stand on one of the theatre seats. Mr.Wynne looked up from his papers he was grading and raised an eyebrow.

“Great, Thanks. Okay so in case you don't know I'm Sammy.” The introduction was not necessary, everyone knew who she was. “I have been in this club for three years going on four. Therefore I'd say I out of anyone here, excluding Mr.Wynne, would know what's best for us.” She glanced around challenging anyone to question her, no one did.

“Alright now as the expert on what's best for us I have an opinion.” Mr.Wynne put his book away waiting for Sammy to continue.

“People who have been in this club longer than others should hold seniority. We can't keep running in this anarchy all of us stepping on each other's toes and doing whatever we want” Virgil regretted having listened to Patton. He wished he hadn't come. 

“First of all we need a fucking director.” Sammy said sternly.

“Language, Ms. Montoya” Mr.Wynne said as a warning “Just because I agree doesn't mean you should use profanity.”

“You do?” Sammy said grinning with pride, Mr. Wynne nodded “Well then, second of all we need to have someone focusing on our budget constraints. And lastly,” at this she turned to Virgil, “We make Virgil the official boss of stagecraft.” 

Virgil blinked a few times. He had been tensing for something much worse. She said it so confidently that even Virgil almost believed that was an actual professional title. Sammy was now glaring down at Lucy, something she could only do when she stood on a chair because of her small stature. Virgil glanced over at Roman who was looking back at him with a look satisfaction. Roman strolled over after a moment.

“Justice has been served.” He said looking as proud as if he had slayed a dragon. Virgil rolled his eyes, but was actually more grateful he would have been able to communicate.

“Wow Sammy sure sent Lucy acting.” Patton said in his pun voice. Virgil didn't get it

“What?”

“Like sent packing, but she can't do stagecraft anymore so she'll be sent over to acting.” Patton said like Virgil was silly to not get it.

“As official boss of stagecraft, can I ban bad puns backstage?” Virgil asked Roman.

“He's already going mad with power!” Roman exclaimed.

“Wow he's turning out to be a real dick- tator.” Patton said.

“I didn't know you made jokes like that” Roman said looking impressed.

“What joke?” Patton said innocently. Virgil was sure that wasn't an accident. No way was that an accident.

Well, Virgil's whole perception of reality was turned upside down. People wanted him around. Patton made inappropriate jokes. Princey could be serious. If things kept going like this, Virgil would realize he loved sports.


	12. Deduction

Logan was almost entirely sure that his plans for that day were a terrible idea. His dad assured him it would be fine but his dad also thought it wasn't a big deal to stay up late. In both of these cases Logan, was certain he knew better. 

It was truly too late though, he had already invited Patton to spend the night. He couldn't cancel now. So now he, Logan Cuinn, was going to deal with a sleepover. 

It was Patton though, so he knew it couldn't go too badly. Other than Patton not liking the snacks he chose, or him not wanting to sleep at all, or one of them becoming sick and Patton having to go home. Okay, realistically there were a great many ways this could go badly, but Logan tried not to focus on them.

He originally didn't intend to invite Patton over at all but his dad said he should. Patton was the one who suggested they make it a sleepover. Which was very new territory for Logan.

He really didn't mind Patton’s presence, he in fact considered Patton his best friend. However, he didn't have much to compare him to. He had been more comfortable alone up until this point. He wasn't anymore.

He stood in his room doing one last visual sweep of the room to ensure all embarrassing objects were tucked away. His phone buzzed on the table next to his bed. He crossed the room to see who it was, Patton.

“Hey have you seen Sherlock?” He said. Logan rolled his eyes. He had never been into that show. People obsessed over it too much. Logan never ended up liking much of what other people his age liked. So he didn't take the time to watch it.

“No, I haven't.” He responded. He was certain Patton wanted to watch it tonight. Logan decided he would give it a chance if Patton really wanted him to. 

Twenty minutes later, Logan found he was correct because Patton was standing on his front porch holding dvd’s of the whole series. Logan glanced outside and frowned. Patton’s parents had already left, his dad had been hoping to meet them. He let Patton in, it was too late he supposed.

Logan's dad walked into the living room with a smile. He held out a hand and Patton shook it. 

“You must be Patton Gaudy.” He said emphasizing the last name. Logan froze and slowly looked up at his dad with a glare. Now was not the time. Patton looked confused.

“Yes?” Patton said cautiously. He didn't know but Logan did. Since Logan made the mistake of mentioning Patton’s last name. His dad had a years worth of pent up dad jokes he was trying not to say in this moment. Logan saw the exact moments his father's self control broke.

“That's an interesting name. But don't you think it draws too much attention?” His dad said acting pensive. Patton glanced at Logan who covered his face with his hands.

“What do you mean?” Patton asked glancing around.

“I just mean that name is a bit too much, it's a little Gaudy.” His dad said trying to hide a smirk. Patton’s eyes widened and he grinned. Logan should have known better than to bring these two together. 

“Logan how can you just stand there while he's Cuinn this to Me?” Patton said faking hurt feelings. Logan walked to the door and opened it back up. 

“Out, both of you.” He said. Patton walked over to the door. Logan was struck with fear. Was Patton leaving? Had his attempt at amusing hyperbole been taken seriously? Patton pulled Logan's hand off the door.

“Excuse me Logan,” he said closing the door, “But it's really time to turn the door back into what it's supposed to be.” Patton said seriously. Logan stared at him sure that he missed something. The latch clicked into place.

“Well before I closed it it wasn't a door, it was ajar.” Explained Patton as if it was simple. Logan finally knew what despair was. 

“Logan, you have to bring him over more often. His jokes are killing me. Seriously I'm dead as doornail!” His dad added. Logan knew what he had to do. He grabbed Patton by the shoulders and steered him toward his room. Patton was still giggling when Logan had successfully gotten him away. 

Logan shifted from one foot to the other. That introduction didn't go according to the plan he had written out earlier. He had gotten them back on track by taking Patton to his room.

He said the line he had formulated earlier, “You could leave your stuff there, or wherever.” He gestured to the obvious best spot for Patton’s things, while trying to appear as if he hadn't thought of the best place for Patton’s things. Unfortunately his acting was too good. Patton believed he didn't care and set his bag next to the door. Logan stiffened. 

This was not the plan, in the plan Patton put the bag where he motions. Then they discuss school, chores, and drama club until precisely five thirty at which point Logan would suggest dinner. Patton would likely say yes and they would proceed to the kitchen where Logan would prepare the frozen pizzas his dad had bought. Then they would eat and Logan would suggest they could watch something and the whole night would go smoothly. If everything was going to deviate from the plan like this Logan couldn't be sure it would necessarily go well.

Patton started walking around Logan's room exploring. Just looking and glancing at Logan from time to time seemingly asking for permission to touch. Logan not protesting seemed permission enough because Patton proceeded to pick up the book he was looking at. It was a pocket guide to rocks and minerals he had received on his eighth birthday. Logan couldn't help but note that Plan Patton wouldn't have made him feel like crawling under his bed and hiding in shame. 

Then Patton sat on Logan's bed with the book in hand. He was hunched over it reading the page about granite. He quietly sat there flipping through pages looking content. Logan crawled on the bed and started reading over his shoulder. They sat there reading for about ten minutes.

“Do you have a favorite?” asked Patton who didn't look up from the page to address Logan. Logan turned to the page marked Obsidian. It had a picture of the stone. It was black with sharp edges and a glassy shine. 

“Rock on.” Patton said. There was no change in inflection on the pun. Logan wondered to himself if it was intended or not.

Logan's stomach seemed as oblivious to the plan as Patton was. It started growling at five twenty three. Patton looked up upon hearing it.

“Dinner?” Patton said smiling and closing the book. Logan nodded and lead him to the kitchen. After a little bit they were able to eat and Logan got them back on track by suggesting they watch TV. Patton agreed and put in his first disk of Sherlock. 

Logan was prepared to be bored. Sure he liked the Sherlock Holmes books, but in most retelling of the story, they made Holmes some sort of hero. Logan preferred the cold-calculating characterization to the newer emotional Holmes. However he was pleasantly surprised by Sherlock. The attention to detail caught him immediately. Before he new it, it was almost eleven thirty and they had watched the whole first season. 

Logan looked around the room for what was probably the first time in hours. He looked over at Patton ready to talk about that show. It was amazing, and he had to talk about it. Unfortunately Patton had fallen asleep at some point and was breathing softly with his chin resting against his chest. Logan felt he had been an inadequate host for not noticing Patton was getting tired. 

He took this opportunity to try to do what Sherlock did in the show. He scanned his eyes over Patton in an attempt to deduce him. Logan focused on his face sure that there would be a clue there. He couldn't observe much but he kept looking.


	13. Logan is an actual cat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not entirely sure I'm proud of this chapter but I'm gonna post it anyway!

With fall break approaching, all of Patton’s friends were discussing where they would be spending thanksgiving. Roman was heading out west to visit his grandma. Virgil's family was all coming to his house, which Virgil was less than pleased about. Logan and his dad were going to do a small thing with just the two of them. Patton wished a little bit his family was planning something. Patton expected his parents to just not acknowledge the holiday much until they were heading out for black Friday shopping. 

What Patton didn't expect was the question he received from Mr. Cuinn from the other end of the couch while Patton was having dinner with them one night.

“So am I counting you for Thursday?” He said casually, almost impatient like he had been waiting for Patton’s answer for a while. That Thursday was thanksgiving though. 

“I had not yet managed to find the correct words with which to extend the invitation.” Logan groaned. Patton was shocked, they were inviting him to thanksgiving with them? He wanted to definitely. Why had it even been a question? Logan looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

“Don't act surprised, you’re over here quite frequently. You've eaten dinner here three days this week alone. Not to mention, you'll be staying over Wednesday night. It logically follows that we might invite you to thanksgiving seeing as you claim not to have plans.” Logan said factually. The other boy adjusted his tie and looked at Patton uncertainty. 

“I'd love to! What should I bring?” Patton said grinning. Mr. Cuinn informed him bringing food wasn't necessary so Patton decided to just bring a pie. They all settled into the now familiar silence they fell into while watching TV after dinner. 

Patton was staying the night because he wanted to go over the budget for the drama club with Logan . His parents were fine with it as long as he got to school on time tomorrow.

After a bit Patton pulled out the plans and budget for the theatre and asked for help. Logan rolled his eyes but Patton knew he secretly enjoyed this. Patton wasn't sure if it was that he enjoyed math or if he just liked helping the drama club. Either way his help had become very valuable to the club during the production of the last play. He had any eye for numbers. 

They sat together on Logan's bed heads bent together for a while. Logan tried at first to explain what he was thinking to Patton but gave up when Patton thought he didn't make sense. Soon, Logan was leaning back on his pillows working silently. Patton sat right next to him watching the other boy work. Patton admittedly zoned out for a bit. It was boring just sitting there watching someone do math.

He was really brought back to attention until Logan's head started leaning against his shoulder. Logan was still awake but only barely. His eyes were fluttering while he fought to keep them open. Patton nudged him a little but Logan was too far gone. Logan felt like he had been entrusted with a very important mission.

Everyone knows that when a cat falls asleep on you, you don't move you cannot risk waking them. Logan was like a large cat. Thinks he's smarter than you, slightly anti-social. Patton decided the same rules must apply to when Logan falls asleep on you. Patton realized that his similarities with cats just proved that he was pawsome. He sat perfectly still until he dozed off too.

When he did, he slumped over causing Logan's head to fall. This woke them both up. Patton felt guilty for waking Logan. They both settled into their usual spots with Logan on the bed and Patton sleeping in the squishy chair in the corner. They fell back asleep and didn't wake up until morning.

Mr. Cuinn had left for work before he and Logan had to leave for the bus stop. Logan locked the door and they walked two blocks to the nearest bus stop for their school. They made it to school and the sun was finally fully over the horizon. When the bell rang, they went in separate directions. 

Patton had history first, then culinary arts, and finally chemistry before lunch. He for once was in the science room before Logan which was odd. Logan's class before chemistry was pretty close. Patton sat glancing at the door every few seconds while telling himself to stop glancing at the door every few seconds. 

When Logan did come through the door Patton’s breath caught. His hair had fallen in his eyes and his tie was slightly loose. Patton stared at him while he crossed the room. Logan dropped his bag onto the table with a thud. Patton blinked a couple times scolding himself for staring this was Logan obviously in distress, now is not the time to be admiring his… everything. In fact there was never a good time to do that. This was Logan, his best friend. 

“What's wrong?” Patton asked trying to use a calming tone. It usually helped when Virgil freaked out. Patton really didn't know the protocol for a Logan freak out. Logan sat up straighter and tightened his tie. 

“Nothing that concerns you Patton. I'm going to sharpen my pencil do you need yours sharpened as well?” Logan snapped while trying to sound businesslike. 

“Yeah but what doesn't need sharpening is your tone.” Patton replied with a scolding tone. “If you want to pretend you’re not upset about something, that's your choice, but you don't need to get snippety. I really do think you should talk about it though.” Patton hated when he did this. When he got all cold and acted like they hadn't literally been making puns over cereal three hours ago. Logan stared at him looking surprised. Logan sighed heavily and stared at the desk as if ashamed.

“Did you actually just use wordplay to tell me to stop being unpleasant?” Logan asked still looking at the desk but sounding impressed. “Fine, I suppose you’re right. I apologize for taking my vexation out on you. This problem is clearly not your fault. A plan of mine had a rather large wrench thrown in it. I'll make due and adjust the plan.”

Patton knew how attached he was to his plans. He looked at Logan to see if he intended to tell Patton which wrench and which plan. Logan seemed to have a hard time deciding.

“I was talking to the counselor about how I would go about graduating early and he sai-” 

“Wait you're graduating early? How early?” Patton interrupted. If he did that Logan could end up anywhere in the country. What college wouldn't want him? Then he would be far away and Patton would still be here. That wasn't right.

“Just a year.” Logan said not noticing Patton’s sudden panic. “Anyway he said that while my academic history was impressive this far, I would need to start doing something in the arts this year if I wanted colleges and universities to accept me. Apparently they don't seek students who are simply perfect in academics. They want ‘well rounded individuals’” Logan said with a huff. Pattons brain lit up like a light bulb. 

“Drama club, you already know our entire financial situation and you are dramatic" it had been a year and he still had not tired of that pun. Logan stared at him like he just suggested that Logan leave his necktie at home.

“Patton, I'm starting to understand why your grades tend to be B or C level.” Logan said expressionless. Patton knew this was one of his attempts at humor and playful banter. This was an improvement from when they first met. 

“Logan, don't be shellfish with your time. We could really use someone more grounded.” Patton said adding the sea pun for emphasis. Logan rolled his eyes. “C'mon just come have lunch with me. We can see how it goes from there.” 

“Fine.”


	14. He Wishes He Wasn't in Kansas Anymore

He hadn't gotten the chance to get to know the new boy right away. Patton introduced him to everyone as Logan. Then, fall break started and Roman was whisked off to Kansas to visit his grandma. 

Kansas, where he was certain not a single event had happened since the tornado picked up Dorothy. Kansas, one thousand two hundred and thirty eight miles from Roman's friends. 

Roman loved his family but he hated Kansas, there was nothing to do there. He wasn't allowed to go hang out anywhere. All he could do was sit in his grandma's house and listen to stories about when his grandma was young. Which wasn't bad most of the time. His grandma had been an actress when she was in her twenties. Nothing big time, but still those stories were the reason Roman got into theatre. Even the most inspiring stories got boring after enough repetitions.

Despite the lack of activity, Roman was trying to have a good time. He played six consecutive rounds of scrabble with his brother, Arthur. That was followed by a game of monopoly with Arthur, Aunt Suzanne, his mom, his dad, and his cousin Hazel. By the end of that day, Roman was certain he would never touch another board game. Luckily, he didn't have to because the next day was thanksgiving and he had somehow gotten volunteered to cook. 

Roman was placed on dessert duty. He had texted Patton for his favorite recipe the night before. Roman had no ideas and if it was good enough for Patton, his family would be satisfied. Patton surprised him by texting back within a couple minutes. Roman really shouldn't have been surprised, Patton had gotten really into cooking lately. More than once, he showed up to a club meeting with a large tupperware of pasta or cookies or something else that he shared with everyone. 

The recipe Patton suggested was shockingly simple. Patton probably knew that Roman was a bit of a novice when it came to cooking. Roman silently thanked him for the short list of instructions. Roman glanced over the recipe one last time before he started. It sounded delicious in concept but Patton didn't mention the name.

Roman pulled out two pans and started cooking. He was done putting them together within 20 minutes. The recipe consisted of dumping various ingredients right into the pan. Roman wasn't sure how this would be turned into something as good as Patton claimed by time in the oven, but it was too late to turn back. He put them in the oven and waited nervously in the kitchen. 

He pulled it out and it was golden brown and smelled delicious. He started crafting a name for this cake. It certainly deserved one. He was interrupted by the fact that dinner was starting. Didn't they know better than to interrupt the creative process? He settled down in the only chair left when he got to the table. He ended up between his cousin Eric and Arthur. 

Everyone started passing around platters and bowls of food. Soon, they were all enjoying the amazing meal. More accurately, most of them were enjoying their meal. Roman however had the devil incarnate looking over his shoulder. Eric was the picture of what a toddler would look like in a twelve year old's body. He had been mocking Roman mercilessly for days over the stupidest things. Like how Roman wore his hair or how often Roman texted Virgil. The worst part was Roman had to share a room with him until his family left Friday morning.

Roman's phone went off loudly disrupting what was a peaceful meal for most. He apologized to his grandmother and pulled out his phone to put it on vibrate. It was a text from Virgil. Eric was looking at the screen over Roman's shoulder. Roman glared at the younger boy and stuffed the phone in his pocket.

“Oh look, it's your boyfriend again!” Eric mocked. “Can't even go an hour without texting him huh? You're both disgusting.” He wrinkled his nose.

“YES I GET IT! I LIKE BOYS AND YOU THINK THAT'S BAD!” He said perhaps louder than he meant to. Arthur turned to him with a smirk. Roman hadn't meant to come out this way. He'd only recently realized it himself. His grandmother looked surprised but not as scandalized as he expected. 

“Roman?” His dad said, bemused. “Is there a reason you felt the need to tell us so loudly?” 

“Well I thought perhaps it bore stating firmly since it's being thrown around like it's supposed to be insulting!” Roman said frustratedly. Everyone looked confused now, even Eric was acting like he had no idea what Roman was talking about. Roman huffed.

“Nevermind, nevermind, just pass the rolls please.” He said deciding he would just sleep on the kitchen floor. They were leaving tomorrow anyway. Roman would let this go for now. He just wanted to enjoy the last bit of time he had with his aunt and grandma. After dinner, Roman started serving dessert. When he had gotten half of the plates served he slipped it out his phone to check the text real quick.

“How's dinner Princey?” 

After he served dessert he would have to respond. He continued making plates then brought them all out to everyone, pointedly “forgetting” Eric's in the kitchen. 

“Roman what is this? Cobbler or…” His grandma trailed off trying to find the right words. Roman struggled for the right words too. He hadn't thought of a name yet so he said the very first idea that came to mind. 

“Prince pie!” He said flipping his hands dramatically. His grandma frowned. Roman frowned too. That was an absolutely terrible name. 

“Why is it called that?” she asked. What a question. The real answer was that Roman had just pulled his phone back out to answer Virgil. Then his grandma asked him and he had just seen the word Princey. What good reason was there for a dessert to be called a Prince? Roman stared at it feeling as if staring at it long enough would cause it to reveal the answer he needed. Then inspiration struck.

“Because of the gold just on top. It's like a crown.” He said grinning with pride at having come up with a good reason. Or at least a not completely unbelievable reason. Roman finished his text.

“Could be better could be worse.” Roman said. Virgil responded immediately. 

“What's wrong?” 

“My homophobic cousin. And my creativity just abandoned me.” Roman said with that emoji that looks green like it's sick. It felt fitting for the situation.

“Oh” The response came. And another a few seconds later.

“So you're bi? Cuz there was a girl during the summer if remember right” Virgil inquired. Roman didn't think Virgil was judging him. He was sure that Virgil was just genuinely curious.

“I'm bi… I guess. I also just came out to my entire family. I meant to handle that a lot more tactfully why couldn’t he have just kept his jerky self in his own business?” It's true he had meant to come out properly. It's not that he was ashamed of it or anything, it was just that he wanted to give his parents time to adjust. He kinda needed time to adjust. He had only realized about last week that he had occasionally thought boys were attractive too.

“I don't get it when people act like your sexuality is their business.” Virgil responded. Roman's eyes widened that sounded like Virgil had first hand experience. Was Virgil….?

“Wait are you gay?!” Roman said resisting the urge to add an emoji. This was a serious conversation. Serious conversations don't include emojis.

“Not exactly… I mean I'm not really comfortable under any specific identification. I mean I'm just me. I just figure I'll like who I like if or when I like ‘em.” Roman could almost picture Virgil's grimace as he explained this. 

“Well I won't force you to label yourself. Being Virgil is enough. I have to get back to my family now Talk to you later Hot Topic.” Roman said he really was glad Virgil had told him. He would have never guessed otherwise. He didn't know why it mattered so much though. It didn't matter. Virgil could date whoever he wanted. His phone buzzed one last time.

“Aw you think I'm hot” Roman's cheeks felt warm. He shoved his phone into his pocket and resolved not to think to hard about this. No he did not! Why would he think Virgil was hot?! Don't be silly. He pushed those thoughts aside and rejoined his family's conversation.


	15. The Gang's All Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been waiting to post this chapter for forever!

Virgil wasn't sure if he regretted that last text he sent to Roman. It was a joke, of course, why wouldn't it be? He just hoped he hadn't offended Roman. He had enough on his mind without worrying about making It awkward. It was much too late though. He only really started regretting it Monday at school. Roman was acting different and Virgil hoped he hadn't made Roman feel awkward.

Virgil was sitting in the theatre waiting for Roman. He was explaining his situation to Patton. Patton seemed to think Virgil was overreacting. If Virgil hadn't meant to flirt then Roman probably hadn't taken it that way. Had he thought Virgil was flirting? 

Virgil hadn't been flirting Right? This question was interrupted by Roman's entry into the theatre. He was striding in like he owned the place. His backpack was slung over one shoulder and his t-shirt brought out the color of his eyes and fit snugly. Had he been flirting? Virgil cursed quietly, earning him some looks from Patton. Logan walked in behind Roman looking frustrated .

“Patton I found specs over here trying to sneak off to the library.” Roman said sliding into the seat next to Virgil. Logan sat down across from Virgil.

“I had work to do.” Logan said, unrepentant.

“Hey… Virge" Roman greeted him slowly. Virgil realized the best course of action was to not continue flirting with Roman. If he had been flirting. He still wasn't sure. He should just act like everything was normal. Maybe then Roman would believe it too.

“Have a hard time finding an insult there, Princey?” Virgil said trying for sarcasm. It didn't turn out right. Virgil was slightly distracted by Roman's arms. He had nice arms. Which was something Virgil had always conceptually known but hadn't taken time to think about. He also wasn't going to think about it now. He also wasn't thinking about Roman's smile. Shit he had been flirting. Still he shouldn't do it again. Never again.

“Look I tried Okay?” He said acting wounded. “Hey Pat my costume tore could you give me a hand?” Roman said standing. Patton clapped and a groan rang out from the other three boys.

“You comin’ Lo?” Asked Patton. 

“No I think I will stay here in order to actually eat the food I got,” Logan replied with an eye roll as if it was ridiculous for Patton to even ask. Virgil smirked, what a dork.

“So why are you here?” Virgil asked bluntly. There were probably better ways to phrase that but Virgil wasn't in the mood to find it. He had already embarrassed himself enough with Roman; he wasn't going to fumble for words with this guy.

“I am here because I needed a place to sit and eat my pizza.” Logan replied simply. Virgil let out a long exhale, this was going to be a long conversation.

“No, no, I meant here as in the club. Why did you join the club?” He amended. Logan made a small “oh" shape with his mouth before responding correctly. 

“I required an artistic activity to engage in and Patton wished for me to join drama club. Joining the club filled both needs therefore it was and continues to be the best course of action.” Logan said with all the seriousness of a lawyer in court. Virgil could not believe this guy.   
“Why did you require an artistic activity?” Virgil said not bothering to resist the urge to mock his tone.

“So I can graduate a year early,” This was said with the air of pride. It was almost like he expected to be praised for his ambitions. Instead, he got a scoff from Virgil. Virgil wasn't trying to be mean… it just happened sometimes. “What?” demanded Logan sounding offended.

“You have to be joking. You are not graduating early,” He said with an eye roll. Logan looked angry now, he probably thought Virgil was implying he was an idiot. 

“Falsehood. I am always serious. Not to mention I have a 4.0 grade point average and several teachers who are willing to write letter of recommendation.” Logan was listing his qualifications like it was a job interview. Virgil had no doubt he was ready for college. The trouble was Patton wasn't.

“You won't graduate early because Patton wouldn't want you to." Virgil said with a smile. Logan blinked for a second as if trying to consider for the first time ever how Patton would react. Logan frowned, evidently coming to the same conclusion as Virgil had.

“That's preposterous. He would have told me if the idea of me graduating early bothered him. He's always very candid about what he is feeling. He didn't say anything so I'm sure he's fine,” Said Logan sounding less sure than he was acting. Virgil shook his head; this guy obviously was very confused. 

“He wouldn't have said anything if he thought you would be happier doing this. He's honest about his feelings until he thinks other people don't want to hear them.” Virgil said with a shrug, “He doesn't want you to leave before he can leave with you. I don't know you Logan, but I know Patton. He's a sweet kid and when you’re around him, it's hard to do anything that might make him sad. So, you won't be leaving early.” 

Logan looked torn which probably meant he knew Virgil was right. He seemed to finally give in and adjusted his tie. He looked at Virgil making eye contact. Virgil was suddenly really uncomfortable.

“Thank you Virgil. I'm believe you are correct. A reversal of my original plan seems to be in order. I will go inform Patton that I no longer need to attend these meetings this year. I will rejoin next fall.” He stood finally looking away. Virgil was seized with not quite panic but something close to it. He wanted Logan to stay. He had in the few days before fall break become an amazing balance to Princey. Not to mention the club had already rested the budget on his shoulders. 

“Just stay.” Virgil said trying to clean up the mess he made of this situation. If Logan left now it would be his fault. Patton would be disappointed, and so would Mr. Wynne. Logan could not leave yet.

Logan turned back toward him and said, “Don't be absurd, my presence here has had obvious negative influences on the people in this club. I don't think they desire anyone who may stifle their… fanciful pursuits. I will leave for the time being.”

“I want you here. I can't speak for any of them. Me, personally, I need someone else to help ground these idiots. They're my friends but they are impossible to control. Do you know how many times I've had to be the bad guy and point out that we can't have a real fire because the stage is made of wood? That specific situation has happened five times in the past four months. Don't you dare leave.” Virgil said feeling very sure about this. Logan staying would relieve a lot of pressure. Virgil was happy to have any help he could get.

Logan looked at him with a strange expression. Could that be admiration? Logan sat down where he was before still looking at Virgil weirdly.

“Alright. I will remain here.” He said like it was some weighty decision, not him choosing to stay in a high school drama club. Virgil looked down and let his bangs fall in his face. He couldn't handle all this extended eye contact. Soon Patton and Roman returned and glanced between Logan and Virgil. They probably sensed something had happened between them while they were gone. 

“Hey kiddos what did I miss?” Patton said cheerfully. Logan looked at Virgil then turned to Patton.

“I won't be planning to graduate early. I have decided that in this case the early bird gets very little in return for his efforts.” Logan said factually. Obviously trying not to let on that he was staying for Patton.

“Well I support you feather or not you decide to do it.” Patton said grinning. Roman chuckled. Logan held up a hand to stop him.

“Don't laugh, you'll only egg him on.” He said earning a small smirk from Virgil. Lunch continued with out anymore checking out of best friends or long awkward eye contact. They laughed, talked, and groaned at bad puns. It was comfortable, as long as you ignore the fact that Virgil's cheeks felt warm anytime Roman spoke to him. He did ignore it too, it was probably nothing anyway. He did not like Princey.


	16. If Ya Want

Logan was certain acting was not for him. He had no desire to stand on a stage and emulate emotions. However, he did find numbers calming. So, that's why Logan was sitting in the middle of the theatre after school reworking the budget that had been suggested for costumes versus the suggested budget for the set. 

He unfortunately finished that in timely manner, so it left him sitting watching everyone else be productive or some drama club approximation of it. He wasn't sure that what these kids were doing could be in any way construed as productivity. He knew Virgil tried and he was well versed in the construction side of things, but in the delegation and efficiency side of it, Virgil was… lacking somewhat. 

Logan stood; he had an idea and it was time to execute it. He closed his notebook and walked over to Mr. Wynne. He first showed Mr. Wynne the budget. Mr. Wynne read over it nodding. He handed the notebook back to Logan.

“This is some meticulous work. I may not have done it exactly this way but I prefer students to take the lead with these things. It makes communication easier if everyone on the project are peers.” said Mr. Wynne, giving Logan a kind smile.

“That's precisely what I need to talk to you about.” Logan said stiffly. He wasn't sure what everyone would think of his idea. After a pause he continued, “I had an idea to make the club more autonomous.” 

“Autonomous? Forgive me Logan but I'm afraid I can't give you guys much more independence than this.” Mr. Wynne said with a chuckle.

“This,” Logan said gesturing to the general chaos behind him, “is hardly self-sufficiency. If the club continues in this state of disarray, there's no chance of it continuing past next year. I suggest not less structure from you, but more structure from us.” The word felt strange in his mouth. Mr. Wynne seemed intrigued. He gave Logan a small smile.

“I see you've put quite a bit of thought into this” 

“Indeed. My idea is this, I fill the roll you should be filling.” Logan said bluntly. Perhaps too bluntly, it was always hard for him to gauge how much honesty was admirable, and how much was contemptible. He didn't wish to offend, it just happened sometimes. Luckily he seemed to amuse Mr. Wynne with his candor. He decided to continue speaking.

“I have no passion for professional make believe. I also lack the artistic ambitions required to build sets, do makeup, or make costumes. Therefore I suggest tha-" Mr. Wynne cut him off with a mischievous smile.

“You basically want to be the task manager,” he said laughing loudly “I see where you’re going with this Logan. You think they need someone to keep them focused. I've thought the same thing myself on occasion. They don't listen to me though. They aren't being rebellious, they simply think they're capable of handling this themselves. It's a great idea if you think you can handle it. They may respect you more since your closer to their age. I give my full approval. I'll call everyone over here so you have a second to prepare yourself.”

Mr. Wynne walked away. Logan was not used to his ideas being fully understood much less other people finding them agreeable. He tried to shake the initial shock off before everyone came over. He knew what he would have to say, it was just a matter of getting them to listen to him. Slowly everyone started coming over and settling around in a circle. An image of the round table rose to the front of Logan's mind. His father used to read him the stories of King Arthur. He never understood why the characters made the choices they made but the story had stuck with him for all these years.

Patton sat to his right and Virgil sat to his left. He and Virgil had been talking more since that conversation at lunch the week before. Logan suspected this was the beginnings of another friendship, but it was too early for him to be entirely sure. He found Virgil was much more reasonable than Patton. He stated his opinions clearly without as much of the frilly emotions. Logan could respect that. Each of his… friends gave him a quizzical look. He gestured for them to just wait a moment.

Once everyone had sat down Mr .Wynne introduced Logan to those who hadn't met him yet and then asked everyone to give him their attention. He cleared his throat and pushed up his glasses.

“We are a mess.” He said loud enough to get everyone's attention and end the last few side conversations. “We have no sense of order. From what I understand the only reason plays manage to be performed here is through some mixture of skill and the laws of probability not applying to you.” Someone across the circle pulled out a phone, it appeared he was already losing them. He mentally scanned his list of slang words he knew. He had to be relatable if he wanted them to listen to him.

“What I'm saying is that you are all a hot mess. So, in the future we'll all begin each meeting by sitting in a circle like this and discussing our objectives for the next few days.” He said attempting to sound relaxed. “I'll take notes of those objectives for each group then your group leaders can come to me for any reminders on what you guys need to do.” He finished hoping his expert use of popular words would help win them over.

“We don't have group leaders. What are you even talking about?” said a boy across the circle.   
“I was under the impression that Samantha and Virgil were your group leaders.” He said feeling confused. He knew he had heard many of the stage hands refer to Virgil as boss, and Samantha held obvious dominance over everyone else in the performing group.

“First, my name is Sammy, Samantha isn't even my full name. Second, while Virgil is the leader of the stagecraft side of things, the actors have no official leader.” Sammy said. Logan raised his eyebrows. He saw a few actors nodding along with her words.

“I disagree,” he said adjusting his tie “the very fact that you were the one to speak out against it when no one else did proves it. They defer to your leadership. However if that title truly makes you uncomfortable we could go with something more indicative of a democracy such and ‘representative’” Logan said trying to be agreeable.

“Hey loosen up a little textbook.” Virgil quietly said to him nudging his shoulder. Logan saw he was right, people around him were looking confused.

“If ya want.” Logan threw out hoping to recover some of the relaxed air he had lost. Sammy looked thoughtful then glances around to see if there were any objections. There, of course, were none. 

“Lastly, I would like to discuss the job of director. I could be wrong but don't plays usually have one?” He said knowing he was not wrong. Most everyone started awkwardly looking around. Logan got the feeling that this had been brought up before but was never executed.

“Well are you volunteering, Pocket Protector?” He heard Roman say. He suspected that Roman had some sort of aversion to him, he wasn't sure why. Honestly he found Roman almost tolerable, almost. He still didn't understand how someone with such clear ambition could also be so dimwitted.

“Hardly, I'll have enough on my plate trying to keep you all on task.” Logan said rolling his eyes. A couple people around him laughed. Had that comment been humorous? Logan guessed this was one of those time that people laughed because something was very true. He saw that frequently with stand up comedians that his dad would watch in between the numerous episodes of Mythbusters.

Mr. Wynne spoke up from a few feet away “Patton. I gave you guys a chance to handle this one on your own but Patton is the clear choice and you guys didn't even consider him last time.” Logan thought for a moment. While Patton would be a perfectly reasonable choice, Logan didn't understand why he was the “clear choice". 

“Patton, at least for this play, I would like you to be the director. After that Alexis, I want you to try your hand at it and I have a few more of you in mind for later one plays. Right now, Patton is the perfect choice because at least for this club the director should be encouraging and honest. I don't see Patton lying to you about how you did in a scene but I also can't see him being mean. I, of course, won't force you Patton but I would appreciate it if you gave it a shot.” Mr. Wynne explained.

Patton’s eyes were wide. He looked surprised like he hadn't been expected this at all. Logan briefly wondered if Patton was unaware of how nice and well liked he was in general.

“I don't know, I mean I guess I could, unless someone else wants to go first.” Patton said shyly. Unsurprisingly, no one wanted to go before him.


	17. Can you like more than one person?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Patton is such a mess here. I feel bad for putting him through this.

Patton was disappointed in himself. The last two weeks had hit him hard. He had realizations he was not proud of. He felt like a bad friend. 

The first realization had happened Thanksgiving day. Patton had been forced to stop denying what he had tried so hard to ignore. He really liked Logan. He liked how super focused Logan's gaze was when he was interested in something. He liked how Logan tried to pretend his puns weren't on purpose. He liked watching Sherlock with Logan and seeing Logan deduce the answers only seconds before Sherlock. 

He realized he liked him when they were all cooking for dinner and Logan walked up and leaned real close and placed his arms on Patton’s shoulders with his fingers locked behind Patton’s neck. Patton had stopped breathing and his heart pounded loudly. Then Logan pulled back and Patton realized he had been tying an apron on him.

“Perhaps this will prevent you getting your clothes dirty like you usually do.” Logan had said factually, walking away. Patton couldn't pretend he didn't notice the other stuff anymore. He felt like a terrible friend. Here Logan was doing a normal friendly thing and Patton was getting other feelings out of it. It felt like he was betraying Logan. 

It all only got worse on the Monday after fall break. He had walked into the theatre glancing around to find where Virgil and Roman were sitting. Roman hadn't gotten there yet but Virgil had. As he settled down next to him Virgil looked up. Patton felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. Virgil's eyes pierced through the veil of his hair. Patton knew Virgil could appreciate that pun but he couldn't tell him because that would be admitting something.

He couldn't do this again, not again. These were his friends. 

That's when the third and final realization hit him. Friends, plural form, was that even allowed? Could you have a crush on two guys at once? What would they think of him if they knew? He felt even worse when Virgil started talking. 

Virgil had been freaking out because Roman could have thought he was flirting. Patton reassured him even though he saw the truth. The truth was Virgil had it bad for Roman. He couldn't hold it against Virgil, Roman was confident and stylish. If Virgil would be happy with him, Patton wouldn't dream of interfering. 

So Patton was left liking two of his best friends. One of which who just didn't see him that way. The other had made it perfectly clear he didn't want a boyfriend now. If he was into boys, he wasn't angry with them. He was more mad at himself for doing this than them for not wanting him. 

Life got slightly more awkward for the next few weeks. He had a sleepover with Virgil already planned so there was no backing out. Not to mention, as director he and Logan had to talk often about Patton’s vision for the play, and how that would affect the objectives the other groups would have to meet. 

Patton was miserable and it was showing. Virgil had started asking him if he was alright. So had Mr. Wynne and Mr. Cuinn. He knew it must be getting out of hand when his parents noticed. 

They finally said something on the day that Virgil was supposed to come over. He walked into the house and ran upstairs dropping his backpack in his room. He went back downstairs to his mom's office.

“Virgil's coming over, what do you want for dinner?” He asked sure that it would take several minutes and at least two repetitions of what he had said for her to answer him. Instead her gaze flicked up to him right away. 

“No pun?” she asked returning her eyes to the screen. She didn't wait for an answer, “Well I think burritos would be good for tonight, if you don't mind cooking.” The last part was a normal part of this conversation every day. He never did mind cooking but she always asked even if it was only to show he wasn't obligated. Patton shook his head to show it was no problem. 

He went to his room clean up. It was a little cluttered. It was nothing like Virgil's room (which he only got to see once) , or Logan's so he felt self conscious about the whole thing. He was even more worried because this was the first time Virgil had ever been here, and because Virgil was… well Virgil.

He had about an hour before he expected Virgil to show up. He straightened up his room as much as possible. It didn't work there was still a pansexual pride flag on the wall. Patton laughed quietly to himself. He actually had no idea what he and Virgil would do. He had no activity ideas. He didn't even have a specific movie he wanted to suggest they watch. 

He had thirty-seven minutes to figure out what the heck he was going to do. If he didn't find something then he was looking at close to seventeen hours of uninterrupted alone time with Virgil. That would be awful. He would love it but it would be awful. He sat on the floor next to his bed and leaned his head against the edge of the mattress. 

What was he doing? Were people even supposed to like more than one person this way? He was sure that if he looked it up, it would be some sign that he was emotionally unhealthy. He knew Logan would say he should research before he jumped to conclusions though.

Patton didn't want to guilt himself like this. It felt horrible and he couldn't stand it. There were like endless sexualities out there right? He was sure there was something out to describe what he was feeling that wasn't “Patton you're a bad person”. He would start looking things up. There had to be someone else who could relate to what he was feeling. Plus it's not like he was in a relationship with either one of them and was feeling these things for someone else. He just felt affection for them, and he couldn't see how affection could be wron-

His train of thought got cut off by his doorbell ringing . He had gotten caught up thinking and hadn't noticed the time. He stood up and ran to the door. It had taken him three rings to even get downstairs. Running had made his cardigan a little lopsided and his hair was kind of sticking up, but if he didn't answer the door now, Virgil would think he was ignoring him. So he opened the the door in his slightly messy state. 

Of course Virgil chose that moment to be more beautiful. Patton was sure that this was the universe laughing at him. The setting sun was shining through Virgil's hair and illuminating his eyes to a beautiful caramel chocolate color. Virgil didn't mention how Patton looked even as Patton re-tied his cardigan, he just raised his eyebrows.

Patton let Virgil in and told him that his room was up the stairs and to the left. Virgil nodded and started heading up the stairs with his bag. Patton followed just behind trying hard not to look at Virgil's butt. He would not look at Virgil's butt. Virgil dropped his bag carefully next to Patton’s bag then turned to Patton. 

“Okay spill, I'm ready.” Virgil said giving Patton a concerned look. Patton froze in the doorway to his own room. What was happening?

“There's something bothering you and you didn't wanna talk about it at school so tell me now. We're worried you know and-" 

“We? Who? No one needs to worry about me.” Patton said trying to muster up a convincing smile. Virgil rolled his eyes.

“Cut the crap. We being me, Logan and Roman. All of us have noticed something's up with you so don't act like it's nothing. If you don't tell me then I won't be able to tell Princey not to worry and Lo will question you next. It's easier of you just tell me so I can let them know the situation is being handled.” Virgil said firmly. If there was anything Virgil was confident in, it was worrying. 

“First of all, watch your language, kiddo. Second of all it's super sweet that you are all concerned,” Patton smiled and started to remake his already made bed. 

“Your acting normal but I also notice that you conveniently left out weather or not it was being handled. You also still haven't told me what the problem is.” Virgil sounded grumpy. “I guess I can't make you stop bottling up your feelings. I just always hear you telling me and Lo to open up about what's bothering us. I thought you would follow your own advice at least.”

Well, that hit Patton like a punch in the heart. He couldn't expect other people to talk about this stuff if he wouldn't. He could trust Virgil not to judge him, but he didn't want to give information that might give him away. Virgil put a hand on Patton’s shoulder and patted it awkwardly.

“Yeah, I know I'm not the beat with this emotions thing. If you want you can call one of the others if you'd feel better about it. Or we could call Roman and Lo that way we're all here if you decide you feel like talking... ” Virgil dropped his hand looking uncomfortable. Patton felt bad for worrying Virgil. He appreciated the effort.

Calling Logan didn't sound like the worst idea, but it was. If he came, he would realize what was wrong. Logan was too observant, he would figure out everything. Roman wasn't a bad idea at all though. He could be a witness so Patton wouldn't do anything dumb. 

If Patton invited Roman and Virgil he would have to invite Logan though or it would seem suspicious. Like he was leaving Logan out on purpose. One glance at Virgil told Patton he couldn't be alone with him. But he couldn't spend the night with both of them. His feelings went back and forth wildly and Patton didn't know what to do. He felt Virgil's hand on his shoulder again.

“Tell your parents Princey and Logan are coming over, I'll text them,” Virgil said pulling out his phone. Patton smiled and went and told his mom. He supposed Virgil was right, he did want them all there. Everything felt better when they were all there. At least this way he would have Roman's help right?


	18. Frick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Patton’s circumstances improve! Or worsen depending on how you look at it I guess. Sorry Pat

Roman got the text at five fifteen that evening. He had gotten permission to go and arranged a ride by five twenty. He was ready and walking out the door by five thirty. He was knocking on Patton’s front door at five forty-five. Logan and Virgil were already there. 

Roman strutted into Patton's room. “I believe I was summoned.” Virgil rolled his eyes and Patton looked up at him and grinned.

“Hi Roman.” Patton said weakly. Patton, Logan and Virgil were sitting side by side on Patton’s bed. Logan was looking at Patton with concern. 

“Hiya Pat! I hear you won't tell Virgil what bothering you.” Roman chuckled.

“There's nothing to worry about, I feel fine right now. I was just trying to convince these two to watch Doctor Who. I think Logan would love it. Who doesn't?” Patton tried to lighten the mood. He had the show pulled up on the TV on his dresser. Roman was picking up on a lot of stress in this room. Like sure it was just like that sometimes around Virgil, but even necktie over there was simply reeking of tension. 

“I agree you'd love it. I personally haven't seen it but it's right up your alley!” Roman declared enthusiastically. Logan raised and eyebrow and pushed up his glasses.

“If you haven't seen it how would you know?” Logan inquired skeptically.

Roman moved around to the foot of the bed. “How do you know you wouldn't love it?” Roman said as he flopped down on the bed laying across Virgil and Patton’s legs while looking at Logan. His head was resting on Patton’s knees. Virgil was looking at his phone and lowered his arms to rest on Roman's legs

“That argument was surprisingly logical coming from you, Roman. Very well, I’ll try it ” Logan sounded impressed. Roman tried to not be offended by the surprised tone. Roman turned his head to grin at Patton.

“There, that wasn't so hard!” he exclaimed smugly. Patton didn't grin back.

“Frick.” Patton tilted his head back and leaned it against the wall. Virgil's head snapped up to look at Patton. Logan's eyes widened. Roman was taken aback. This boy, the very boy who had more than once scolded Roman on his cursing. This was the boy who had looked Roman in the eye and practically cursed. It was certainly the closest roman had heard him to do it. Roman didn't even know why. Like maybe it wasn't a huge deal but it certainly felt like it when it came from Patton. Didn't Patton say he wanted to watch Doctor Who? 

Roman laid a hand on Patton’s forehead. “Have you gotten sick? Where did this wild behavior come from?” Patton turned red and pulled his head back.

“I'm not sick. I just realized something… something frustrating. I'm sorry” Patton sputtered. Roman exchanged a look with Virgil. What was going on with him? Roman scooched to where he wasn't lying on anyone, he sat up, and looked at Patton. 

“Tell us what's wrong.” Logan demanded. “You don't usually express yourself through anything like cursing. So, whatever caused that outburst is evidently affecting you beyond what you are wishing to let on.” 

“Patton we know you, you’re our best friend, we love you.” Virgil tried to soothe him. Roman was wondering what was bothering their guy. Was he being bullied? Was he mad at one of them? Was he going through something? 

“Look if I tried to explain, you guys probably wouldn't get it. Its fine. Before we watch this I should cook dinner.” Patton got off the bed and started walking downstairs. Roman sped up and went around Patton, blocking Patton from continuing down the stairs. 

“No, I'm sorry, Patton, but I at least need assurance that you are working toward fixing whatever the problem is.” Roman pleaded. Patton slipped by him down the stairs. 

“Roman please stop worrying, that's the last thing I want.”

They all followed him to the kitchen and tried to help when Patton let them. Once he really started cooking Patton seemed to relax. Roman was glad, he could not handle that tension all night. 

After a few minutes Logan spoke up. “Patton what is that large piece of cloth on your wall? It appears to be a flag but I'm unaware of its significance.” Roman could see Patton’s mind working. Patton appeared to be searching for an answer as he continued working. 

After a moment he picked up a frying pan that he was cooking meat in then turned to Logan. “Well ya see Logan, I'm pan.” Logan looked confused for a moment before his expression cleared up into understanding .

“Oh I see this is one of those popular abbreviations of a sexuality. And also a pun on the cooking utensil your using. That was terrible.” Logan pushed up his glasses. 

Patton finished cooking and left for a minute to take his parents food. When he came back, they all went to the table. It was weird eating with all of them at a actual table when they usually sat in the theatre during lunch, and this was the first time they'd all hung out together outside of school.

When they finished they all started going upstairs.

“It's not exactly a problem and it's not exactly fixable. I… look it sounds silly but I just have a crush on…” Patton trailed off. Roman stopped where he was on the stairs and tried to deal with the sudden subject change.

“How is that a problem?!” Roman asked once he realized they were talking about Patton’s problem “We can help you figure out how to court her… or him based on the pansexual pride flag there.” Patton plopped down on the stairs. Logan was behind Roman and Virgil was already standing at the top.

“On three people. They don't feel the same way.” Patton confessed weakly. Romans eyes widened. He plopped on the stairs too. It's quite possible that was a problem.

“Okay well, pick your favorite we'll help you seduce one of them, or all of them if you want to have a polyamorous relationship!” Roman reassured him. 

What had he just signed up for? Helping Patton get into a relationship? The three people wasn't the problem, although it was an added challenge in helping seduce them. It was more the very idea of Patton dating someone. Everything was good right now with none of them in a relationship. He didn't want something to make it difficult. Jaden had left him for his girlfriend. He couldn't imagine Patton doing that but he didn't particularly want to risk it.

“No, you can't help me with that thanks, kiddo! I'll just try to get over it. Hey what's that word you said? Poly-something relationship?” Patton asked sounding a little freaked out.

“Polyamory, is multiple people being together consensually. Or sometimes it's described as having an open relationship where both partners may also see other people. Truthfully it just depends…” Logan trailed off. Roman couldn't blame him, it was a large term and not easy to describe. Patton looked pleasantly surprised, Roman hoped he felt better, the little puffball deserved better than people who didn't appreciate him.

“Patton I know you. You probably felt really bad or something for all this. You don't have to. You deserve love you know. If these people don't like you back they must be complete idiots.” Virgil said. Far be it for Roman to say so but Virgil was completely right. Patton seemed to find Virgil's words amusing. Roman stood and helped Patton up before continuing up the stairs.

“You guys are really great you know that? I tell you that I like three different guys and that I'm pan all in one night and you’re all just really nice about it.” 

“Well Pat I do my best. I'm not the most feeling-sy guy but I'm getting bi.” Roman said hoping his pun was blatant enough for the others to catch it.

Virgil buried his face in his hands, as if he could hide from the bad jokes. Logan pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. Patton however was smiling wide, and Roman was sure that was worth embarrassing himself with ridiculous jokes.

Logan suddenly stopped in Patton’s doorway “Who are the people you wish to engage in romantic activities? You mentioned that it was ‘three different guys’ so they are all male. Who?” He asked with what seemed like scientific curiosity. Roman laughed in surprise. He was shocked that Logan was the first one to ask. It had slipped Roman's mind in his relief at not having to follow through and get Patton a date. Logan had been quiet for a little bit, but Roman hadn't expected that Patton’s love life was what he was thinking about.

Patton went pale. He spent the rest of the evening expertly dodging Logan’s questions. Roman spent the night trying to convince the others to do Disney karaoke with him to no avail. Patton agreed but Logan and Virgil adamantly refused.

“C'mon guys just try it, it'll open a whole new world for you.” Patton insisted, smiling. Roman gasped excitedly.

“Yes! That's such a good song! We have to sing it. C'mon Patton, we don't need them.” Roman grinned ignoring the pun focusing on the music. Patton blushed, shaking his head. Roman couldn't help but notice how beautiful he looked when he blushed. Well that explained why he didn't want to help Patton find a relationship. 

Patton yawned, “Actually we should be getting to sleep right? I mean there are things to do tomorrow” Roman slumped down. Not fair, he just wanted one song and suddenly Patton was too tired. He gave in and started to set up bed for himself on the floor. Virgil did the same. 

“There's a sufficient amount of space on that bed to accommodate two people. Perhaps Virgil could share with you. Then there would be a larger space for myself and Roman to sleep.” Logan said, frowning thoughtfully. 

“Why Virgil?” Roman asked. Virgil flinched. Roman felt bad since that probably sounded worse than he meant it. He had just wanted to understand why Logan wasn't requesting the space himself.

“Virgil would benefit from optimal comfort when attempting to sleep in a new environment” Logan said defensively. “You tend to suffer from anxiety correct? Sleep is necessary for dealing with stress, therefore you would benefit most from the extra spot on the bed.” He directed this last part at Virgil.

Patton’s face was hard to read as he moved over making room for Virgil on the bed. Virgil looked at Logan for a long moment before shrugging and sitting on the bed. They all went to sleep for the night.


	19. IHOP

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm real sorry this was a little late. I just started school so its thrown me off. I may be posting a bit less frequently but I'm not stopping or anything. Thank you all for reading! Especially if you made it this far. We still got a ways to go.

Virgil was so sick of the bickering. Logan and Roman had been pleasant that night at the sleepover but everything changed at school that Monday. Roman seemed to be throwing dramatic tantrums just to annoy Logan at this point. Logan being Logan was just as rigid about his plans as ever. 

If they weren't fighting about line delivery then it was set. If it wasn't set then it was costumes. It was like Roman held Logan personally responsible for every department's decisions that he didn't like. Logan meanwhile was going out of his mind trying to get Princey on a manageable leash. He didn't comprehend that if you indulge Roman, and just make him feel like he's had his say, then he's satisfied.

Virgil thought the best way to learn this lesson was through experience. He had tried to explain to Logan but he hadn't listened. Unfortunately, the fighting was getting out of hand. Logan could hold it together most of the time, but Princey had the tendency to start screaming. 

When Roman and Logan hadn't figured out their problems by themselves, Mr. Wynne intervened. All he had known was that it was fighting between departments. He demanded they have a staff meeting and work out all differences in opinion. So Logan came as the activity manager, Patton came as the current director, Sammy was going to go as representative of the actors, and Virgil had to go as boss of everything else. Then all the actors loudly made it clear that the only one causing issues was Roman. Mr. Wynne agreed that Roman should go in Sammy’s place.

Patton decided it should be at IHOP because he wanted pancakes. So there they sat waiting for their waffles, pancakes, and or other breakfast food. Honestly, no one came there for the dinners. Everyone was awkwardly silent. Patton probably didn't want to take sides and the other two weren't on speaking terms. Virgil realized with a jolt that he was going to have to talk first. Life with these three kept bringing him to strange circumstances.

“So, Roman complains too much and Logan's controlling” He tried. Even Patton glared at him. He was sure that had been a peace offering to both of them. He insulted each of them equally.

“While you communicated our points, stating them in so few word makes it seem as if you aren't taking this seriously” Logan said with a frown. 

“Am I supposed to be? I woke up last Saturday to see Roman, asleep, laying on his stomach, with his arm and leg thrown across you. You just sat there and read a chemistry textbook. I'm sorry if I'm not taking this seriously.” Virgil said rolling his eyes.

Virgil was laughing now but he had been confused when he saw it. He knew he should feel jealous because Roman was laying all over another guy. Or rather, he's supposed to feel about his new friend having his new friend covered with a friend he didn't have a crush on. But he wasn't bothered. It was alright with him. He hoped that perhaps it was because he didn't like Roman that way. He hoped he had just noticed Roman was attractive, not been attracted to Roman.

“Look, this doesn't have to be a big thing, I simply want Logan to acknowledge my ideas and do his best to include them” Roman gestured widely as he spoke. 

“Your ideas are rarely practical enough to be included. I know this must be frustrating, my apologies.” Logan said coldly. Virgil was getting a lot of unapologetic vibes for some reason. He looked to Patton hoping he could help. They always listened to Patton. Patton was conveniently looking at the seasonal menu. 

“Look Princey, these decisions aren't even Logan's. I made most of them. I'm the one causing issues as usual. I'll try to include your ideas from now on okay? Just stop all the fighting.” Virgil avoided eye contact by pretending he found the blueberry syrup container really fascinating. Patton glanced up and looked frustrated.

“Stop talking like that.” Patton said wagging his finger at Virgil. Logan sat up straighter and tightened his tie.

“On the contrary, you cannot practically include all of his ideas.” Logan said with a touch of frustration coloring his usually neutral tone, “You should not be expected to either. His ideas while creative and ambitious, also tend to run on the... fanciful side. That would cause undue stress on you. You cannot sacrifice what is good for yourself and the play simply, so this egotist can feel needed. For that mat-” He fell silent as the waiter came out with the food. He set a plate of French toast in front of Virgil. He was glad that they had food now at least. Logan and Princey both had short tempers and Virgil didn't want to see them argue while hungry. Based on Logan's last comment, arguing was exactly where the conversation was going.

There was some silence and general reaching for the good syrups. Patton poured strawberry syrup all over his waffles, probably more than any one human should eat. He seemed to be trying to fill up every square. Virgil opted for original, none of that fruity stuff. Patton took a bite and hummed in appreciation.

“Now that we've got food, this discussion with be a piece of cake.” Patton said gesturing to the plate of pancakes that was sitting in front of Logan. Virgil groaned, trying to resist the urge to plop his face down on the table in front of him since the space was occupied.

“Sorry Virgil, you're right, that joke was waffle.” Patton winked. Leave it to Patton to change the subject from “staff meeting" to food puns.

“Patton it's time to stop, these puns are utter crepe.” Logan quipped glancing at Roman's plate. Was that something he did? Did Logan quip? Virgil shook his head trying to find a way to get the conversation back on topic. They didn't have time for fun, they needed to focus on not fighting. 

He couldn't find a moment to cut into the conversation for the next 20 minutes. By that point, the topic had wandered so much that if they saw the original topic they wouldn't recognize it. Another thing that happened around that time was Virgil realized Patton’s a genius. For the first time in a week the other two were sitting in the same room without fighting.

It really needed discussion. They couldn't just ignore the issues. 

“Uhhh…” They were all talking still “Guys?” they continued talking over him. He pushed the French toast around his plate. If they didn't solve this, they were just going to keep fighting about the same things. Sometimes it was fun to mess around and joking was the best way to solve something but sometimes you have to think about a problem and fix it. 

They would just end up fighting again and again. Then they would tear the club apart with their drama. Virgil would have to go straight home after school. He liked being home but he would just end up sitting in his room for hours. He could never sleep either so he would probably sitting in his room awake until like three AM, which was always really lonely and Virgil's thoughts tended to wander...

“Sorry what were you saying kiddo?” Patton said turning toward him. Oh jeez, apparently Patton did hear him. 

“We- We just really need to settle this or it could ruin... everything.” Virgil muttered. 

“Ah yes my apologies. You are correct. We should finish the business we came here to finish.” Logan said straightening his tie. He had a dribble of syrup on his chin and Virgil was not going to point it out. 

Logan continued, “I have thought of a reasonable solution. Roman when you have ideas bring them to me and I will screen them. After I have sifted through some of the nonsense, I will tell Virgil about whatever remains, or you may if you wish. I don't truly care, they just need to be passed by me first.” Logan spread his hands in front of him in offering. 

“Oh?” Roman challenged, there was a terrible glint in his eye. “What can't Virgil handle it? He's plenty capable of talking to me. I mean unless you don't think he's smart enough to sort through my thoughts.” Virgil opened his mouth and closed it. He didn't think Logan meant it like that. He didn't know why Roman was wanting to talk to him though. 

“ Roman you should… what's the word… chill.” Logan was obviously very pleased with himself. Virgil was proud of him too, this slang thing was really working for him. 

“Chill? Wow Logan you're really showing him the cold shoulder.” Patton said. “ there's snow reason to be so icy.” Once again, Virgil had to tell himself to not face plant on the table. 

Logan pushed up his glasses with an exasperated sigh “I believe Virgil can't handle it.” Ouch. Was that necessary? “That however has nothing to do with his skills and everything to do with the fact the myself and Mr. Wynne are the only ones who know the full extent of the budget. If Virgil was the one handling the budget like he used to, he would be able to veto your plans based on cost which is all I'll be doing. Determining the quality of ideas will be Virgil's job.” Oh, well, that wasn't nearly as bad.

Roman was nodding and looking thoughtful. “Does this solution satisfy you?” Logan asked him.

“Hmph” Roman sulked “Fine.”


	20. Pick up lines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow chapter 20! That's big. Honestly I'm surprised I've stayed at least mostly on top of it for this long haha. I hope everybody is still here even though this update took a while! Thank for reading!

Patton was very confused. He already had a crush on two of his friends and then Roman waltzed in that night and made it a third. He also suspected that the word polyamorous did describe what he wanted with his friends. It was impossible of course. Patton wasn't sure of anything anymore. 

Virgil texted him often. Logan gave him a cat hoodie for christmas. He had caught Roman looking at him multiple times. At least he hoped he had. He hoped that one of them was looking at him. He couldn't be with all of them in that way, but maybe one. Maybe he could be with Roman and forget how he much he cared for Logan and Virgil.

Patton kept thinking about it and was always getting distracted lately. Patton suddenly realized where he was, math class. He shook his head and cleared his divided thoughts. He tried to focus on the work in front of him. After all, he couldn't let what he was feeling subtract from his school work. He wished there was someone in his math class to tell his puns to. 

He finished the page with just a couple minutes of class left. It was the last period of the day so it was just a couple minutes until school ended. Then he could go directly to the club. He frowned, he actually wasn't allowed to make director puns anymore. They had finished the play he had been directing before winter break. This was the first meeting since school came back into session so he hadn't gotten used to the fact that Alexis was the director now. 

He was surprised that he had enjoyed being director. Maybe not the telling people what to do part. He did enjoy encouraging the actors and getting to share his opinions on what they should work on as a club. He shrugged he had a bunch of good memories to look back on and that's all that mattered.

He was really looking forward to the club today anyway. They would be choosing a new play which was always exciting. Patton would be helping stagecraft again so he could go back to playing with paint. All his friends would be there it was going to great. 

The bell rang and Patton hustled on over to the theatre. He walked in and realized that there were a lot less people than usual and a lot more gloomy faces. He looked around the room and noticed it was the seniors that weren't there. He sat down in the circle in between Roman and Virgil. It seemed like the meeting had already started. 

“Okay Patton, as you may have noticed, we are missing quite a number of people. As I was explaining to the others the seniors have decided to let the rest of you have a chance to work on a production by yourselves. They want to see how you do without them. Not to mention, they should use this time on planning their futures. Applying to colleges is a very stressful time and this may make it easier.” Mr. Wynne explained.

Virgil seemed to have given up hope. Logan was trying to stay composed but Patton could feel the anger rolling off of him. Roman seemed unhappy but he also had the look in his eye like this was just an obstacle to overcome. Patton liked that about him, he acted as if everything was an adventure instead of a problem.

“Well this gives us some time to do a smaller production that requires less people! I have a few suggestions.” Roman declared. Everyone still seemed unsure.

“Yeah now there's more room for different people to step into acting roles too!” Patton added cheerfully. A couple people seemed like they thought that was a good point but most shrunk back as if scared that acting would burn them. 

“My thoughts exactly!” Mr. Wynne agreed. “Perhaps now we should start brainstorming some plays we could do. Roman, you said you had ideas?” 

“Yes but they have been cut down by the sudden change in number of actors. So everyone who want to act raise your hands. I need to know what I'm working with here.” Everyone who had always acted raised their hand. There were also a few others who raised their hands too. Some of the kids from stagecraft. Including Alexis! She didn't want to be director? That meant Patton could be the director again. That would be so much fun!

Roman looked around and counted how many actors there were and frowned. He started crossing things off the list he had.

“Well there goes Hamilton.” Roman said with a huff. Logan sat up taller and looked like he was actually paying attention now. Patton giggled, he had ruined Logan. 

It had happened in Christmas when Patton went over to Logan's house. Patton got really excited when Mr. Cuinn turned on Christmas music. Logan had mentioned that he preferred rap. Patton showed Logan Hamilton and all was lost. Logan hadn't appreciated the historical errors but he had still gotten really into it.

“Well there's one that will only take four actors but a lot of set design. I've been really wanting to do it for a while now. This might be the best time for it since we have less actors who will want to compete for the roles than any other time this year.” Roman said like he was trying to find a convincing way to say it.

Mr. Wynne sighed and seemed to brace for whatever idea Roman was about to suggest. “Very well Mr. Regis, what is your suggestion?” 

Roman grinned “We should do The Glass Menagerie”. Patton hadn't heard of it he wondered what it was about and how it only had four characters. Mr. Wynne nodded slowly and rubbed his beard. 

“By Tennessee Williams? Interesting. That would be fascinating to see you all put on. That's what we'll do.” Mr. Wynne decided. Roman smiled triumphantly. Everyone started dispersing to talk or start researching. Then Roman suddenly turned toward Patton.

“Speaking of Tennessee-" Roman began. Virgil cut him off.

“No.” Virgil glared. Roman ignored him.

“Hey Patton are you-” 

“Don't.” Virgil covered his eyes. 

“From Tennessee?” Roman continued. Patton blinked was Roman doing what Patton thought?

“What?” Patton felt confused.

“Princey, stop.” Virgil groaned.

“Because you're the only ten I see.” Roman winked. Patton’s face felt warm. Logan and Virgil rolled their eyes. Patton knew he had a limited time frame to answer before it got awkward. So he responded with the first pick up line he could think of.

“I could show you my world, but I’m sure you own a mirror.” He said talking as normally as he could without stuttering. Then he stood up and walked away hoping he looked confident. Virgil caught up with him and threw an arm over his shoulder. 

“Excellent work, did you see his face? His jaw was practically on the floor. I don't think he expected to be outdone.” Virgil said with one of his cute little half smiles. Patton hoped that was a good thing. He hoped that the line hadn't been too much. He hoped he hadn't just ruined whatever was going on with Roman. 

His concerns were soon wiped away when he looked over to Roman a little bit later. He glanced up from what he was doing and saw Patton. Then he turned beet red. Patton grinned, he figures this meant Roman wouldn't tell him to beet it. But Patton still wasn't what this all meant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot apologize enough for these pick up lines (if you can even call them that) they are truly the worst and I'm just sorry.


	21. What the Fuck are you doing?

Roman fell hard and fast for Patton. It had only been a little crush for a while. He flirted in a way he knew Patton would appreciate: terrible pick up lines. He hadn't been ready for that response. He was really screwed now. Best case scenario, he was one of Patton’s three crushes and would have to compete with two others for his affection. Worst case scenario, Patton was just joking good naturedly and didn't think of Roman that way.

Not only was he worried about his success with Patton, but he also was educating Logan on the advantages of dating. It was exhausting being the most romantic friend in the group. It had only been a couple weeks and between Patton and Logan, he was run ragged. Especially since he was making almost no progress with Logan. On top of all that he had to do school and his drivers ed lessons. In other words Roman's time was in higher demand than ever.

He was finally getting around to doing homework when his phone started ringing. He blinked several times. He couldn't believe his eyes. The caller ID said it was Virgil. It couldn't be. Virgil never made calls, he would just text if he wanted to talk. Roman picked up the phone prepared to hear silence or something because this was probably a butt dial. 

“Roman, what the fuck are you doing?” Virgil said sounding annoyed, already. That was weird, usually it took a few insults before he sounded this mad. 

“Homework,” Roman answered. He resisted the urge to say “I wish it was you though.” That would be wildly inappropriate, he couldn't say such a thing to Virgil. His brain must have still been in the flirting mind state from brainstorming better pick up lines to use with Patton. He would never say that to Patton though. Patton was too innocent. It would be something he'd say to Virgil, if he was flirting with him. Just to hear him get flustered. You know, if he were to flirt with Virgil, now that he thought about it. It hadn't really occurred to him before, ever. He shook his head to refocus.

“Why do you ask?” He added, instead of that weird train of thought. Virgil huffed like Roman was being stupid. He obviously didn't know what was going through Roman's head. Thank god.

“Not right now! I mean with Patton.” Virgil snapped, a hint of absolute panic in his voice. Roman raised his eyebrows. Of all things, this was what was worrying Virgil at the moment? Not only that but the Virgil had been concerned enough to make an actual phone call. Roman didn't know exactly what had Virgil so freaked out though.

“What are you talking about Freak Out Boy?” Maybe not his best nickname but not the worst either. 

“You've been flirting with him. Which is fine, if you mean it.” Virgil almost growled the sentence. Roman thought about how outstandingly adorable this conversation was. Since when was Virgil the one who got protective? Roman was proud, given enough time he might be able to even train Virgil up to the point where that little growl of his was intimidating. Virgil was trying now but it wasn't scary, just weird at best. Roman knew his intentions were good.

“Virgil,” Roman began, the name still weird to say out loud “I am not messing around, I like Patton. I'm trying to get him to like me. He may not but that's okay because I'm still going to try. You don't have to worry about him. I wouldn't just manipulate him like that.” Roman reassured. 

He also knew he would never do anything to hurt Virgil or Logan. He wouldn't hurt any of them like that. Roman briefly wondered if this showed or if everyone really believed he was completely thoughtless when it came to other people's feelings. Had Virgil really thought he would fuck around when it came to someone as important to him as Patton?

“In that case, good luck I guess.” Virgil said as he dropped the attempt at being threatening. “Also, your pick up lines are terrible. If we all have to suffer through hearing them, please get better ones.” 

“Never.” Roman replied. Virgil huffed one last time and hung up without a goodbye. Probably rude but not unheard of when it came to Virgil. Roman turned back to the homework that was technically due tomorrow, ready to get back to work. Then his phone buzzed. It was Virgil.

They continued their conversation over text for the next little bit. Virgil asking occasional questions about Roman's situation with Patton. Like if Roman intended to ask Patton out, and how long has he liked him. The second question was hard for Roman to answer. He wasn't entirely sure of the answer. 

It could have been the sleepover. It could have been the first time he saw Patton. Could have been when he was standing onstage listening to Patton give him pointers. Pinpointing a single moment when some epiphany happened where he realized how clever, sweet and handsome Patton is just wasn't possible. Patton had always been all those things and Roman had always known.

Virgil called him a sappy loser when Roman explained all that to him. Roman supposed he wasn't wrong about the sappy part. However, loser was completely incorrect. 

He and Virgil wasted time for while before Roman had to go to bed. His eyes were heavy and he just wanted to close them. The homework could wait until lunchtime tomorrow right?


	22. Blame The Freshmen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys this is a little angsty. Like it resolves to fluff obviously, cuz I can't emotionally handle writing anything sad that doesn't get quickly happy. But ya know it's Virgil he gets anxious and there's no avoiding it.

It was performance night. The night the past two months since winter break had been leading up to. They were finally performing The Glass Menagerie. Virgil was proud of the work he'd done for this play. He read through it, and he just had to put everything he has into his work. Looking back, he was pretty sure there was a lot going on with his friends that he hadn't noticed because his focus was entirely on the quality of the play.

His suspicions were confirmed when he glanced over to the corner and saw Roman and Logan whispering to each other. He narrowed his eyes. Roman like Patton but there was something more going on. He did know what it was, just something. He didn't have time to worry about that now though. Well he did have time to worry about it, he just didn't have time to think about it.

He really had to get back to work anyway. They had an hour and a half and everyone was just wandering around backstage. The had to get ready or everything would be ruined. He prepared himself to have to act confident, to be the leader. This was the one night in the process of producing a play that Virgil was in charge. 

He clapped his hands loudly for attention. “Alright we've gotta get moving. Actors you need to get in costume. After they do, I want Rick, Piper, Sophia, and Ellie to do their makeup. Set guys, I'm not saying all your names there's a lot of you. Set guys, go get the set and props into place. Don't forget to put the book under the leg of the table so it doesn't tip.” Everyone shuffled off to get to work. He exhaled in relief, he hadn't embarrassed himself. He watched while the set people started moving things onstage and got to finally see his work all put together. He had barely slept this week between the extra work he had to do, and the anxiety over not having everything done yet. 

The set for the glass menagerie was the most complicated yet, but on the bright side, there was only one set because the story only follows one family in their apartment. He was feeling slightly calmer as he saw the set come together and the actors started coming out in their costumes. 

Then Alexis came rushing out in her costume to him. 

“The back is torn!” She said turning around. The seam along the waist of the dress was open . It was several inches long. You could see her tank top underneath

“What happened?” Virgil demanded touching the rip like if he smoothed it out it might go away. Alexis turned around.

“I don't know, I put it on and then Roman pointed it out. What should we do?” Alexis was panicking. This was bad because one of them needed to be logical. His throat felt dry. He could fix it given an extra hour, an hour they didn't have. 

“Who here can sew really fast?” He tried to shout. It didn't come out as loud as he meant it. He started contemplating if they could duct tape it together on the inside. Then a hand reached over and gently moved Virgil aside. Patton was looking at the tear.

“I'll need you to change out of this but I can fix it if you hurry.” Patton said with a kind smile. Alexis pulled the dress off then and there. She had shorts and a tank top on underneath. Patton smiled and rushed off the the costume closet where they kept the sewing machine. Virgil followed. 

“Calm down down kiddo, I was bored just standing around anyway.” Patton said sitting down at the machine. They stood in the room for twenty minutes as Patton worked. Virgil was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. He tasted blood. He realised he had been chewing on his lip. He needed to get everyone into their costumes. 

“A costume got ripped? Sew what? It's not a problem.” Patton joked as he finished. He handed it to Virgil.

“Thanks so much Pat!” Virgil said as he rushed out of the room. He brought the costume back to Alexis and she slipped back into it. The rest of the actors were already in costume and had their makeup finished. They had thirty minutes before doors opened. Virgil went on stage to do one last quick check on the set. Everything looked good.

He went over to Roman. Roman was playing the lead and the play started with a speech from him. If anyone had to be ready right now, it was him. He walked over and looked at Roman. His face was covered in makeup that made his features stand out even more starkly that usual.

“Virgil, it’s really warm in here. Do you think we could turn down the heater?” Roman pleaded. They had had this conversation before with the last performance. Virgil had told him that they needed to keep it turned up because the audience was just coming in from the cold. This time Roman looked truly miserable though. Virgil felt bad, he supposed it was only fair that he turn it down this time. It was early March anyway, the people would be fine.

“Yeah buddy we can turn it down.” Virgil said turning to leave and adjust the heater. He would have to come back and actually talk to Roman in a minutes. Then Logan came up behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

“I'll get it.” Logan walked away. If Virgil wasn't still so stressed he might have smiled. 

“Okay are you ready to go on?” Virgil asked Roman. Roman gave him a smile that was perhaps not as confident as usual but Virgil couldn't blame him. Virgil could barely take deep breaths himself. 

“I'm always ready aren't I?” Roman winked exaggeratedly. Virgil coughed to hide a laugh. He would just take that as a yes. He shook his head and walked away. He had other people to check on. 

He came back when it was time to send Roman on. Logan was handling coordination of the lights and music. Virgil had to handle the people. Virgil had a walkie talkie that Logan had given him so that they could communicate if necessary. After Virgil sent Roman, Alexis, and the last actress he had a short while just watched. Then as intermission got close, the world came crashing down.

After the panic passed, he realized it hadn't been the world, just the dishes that Alexis had set on the table. The table had tilted and the plates went sliding off. The table had one leg shorter than the others which is why they were supposed to put a book under one of the legs to make it steady. He squinted and he saw that the book was missing. 

Alexis had frozen. Shit, she had never been great at improv. Virgil was biting down on his lip hard. He should have made sure it was there. He was an idiot. He shouldn't have forgotten. It had been his idea to fix it with the book. And it had already halted the action of the play.

The moment dragged into eternity as the guilt weighed him down. The play was ruined and it was his fault. All this responsibility had been given to him and he'd fucked it all up. Then Roman reached up and plucked a book off the onstage shelf. He kneeled down and slipped it into place then shook the table testing it's sturdiness.

“How many times I gotta tell you, I'm saving the money to fix the table. For now you gotta keep a book down here. Anyway like I was saying…” Roman said to Alexis still in character. The audience was still laughing from the initial plate drop. There hadn't even been a pause before Roman immediately jumped to action. The awkward silence had just been in Virgil's head. 

The play was saved, but that didn't mean Virgil had figured out how to breathe again. The darkness of backstage felt stuffy. He wanted to go outside. The air would be cool and he would be able to breathe. Or at least to the bathroom. He needed room, he needed space to breathe. He couldn't go anywhere though. It was almost intermission and Virgil had to help. He had already let everyone down enough tonight. He had to stay and help. 

Finally they made it through the last few lines and they came to intermission and Roman came backstage. His makeup was slightly smeared from sweat. Virgil would have to touch it up. He went to grab the brushes. His hands were shaking and he stood face to face with Roman. He couldn't look him in the eye but he couldn't look away because he had work to do. 

He started trying to quickly rush through what had to be done to Roman's face. After a couple minutes Roman grasped his hand. Virgil was forced to actually make eye contact. Roman held his hand gently, just stilling it not forcing him to move. He looked at Virgil and raised an eyebrow.

“Your shaking.” Roman said sounding confused. Virgil's eyes stung. He pulled his hand away, and tried to start brushing makeup onto Roman's face again.

Roman pulled away from the brush. “Why are you shaking?” Virgil tried to speak but it came out crackly. He cleared his throat and tried again.

“I'm sorry about the table.” He mumbled through his teeth. His cheeks burned. He hated everything about this situation. He hated what he had done, he just couldn't seem to get this stuff right. He started to shuffle in place, he wanted to escape from Roman's gaze but he had to work.

“It wasn't a big deal. Everything's fine, the audience didn't realize. You’re blowing things out of proportion.” Roman said clearly not understanding that Virgil wasn't worried about the quality of the play anymore. He was worried about the guilt boiling in his chest that felt like it was pressing the air out of his lungs. He was worried about what could have happened if Roman wasn't there. He was worried about what might happen in the future. 

This drama club was everything to his friends, especially to Roman. He didn't want them to hate him for ruining all their hard work with some dumb mistake. If he messed up again they might be mad. They might already be mad. He couldn't really know what was going on up in the sound booth. What was Mr. Wynne thinking at that moment? Virgil wouldn't be able to-

Roman laid a hand against Virgil's cheek. “Don't. Don't freak out. This wasn't you and it wasn't that big of a problem. I can hear you over exaggerating the mistake in your head. Understand me when I say this wasn't your fault. Don't dismiss it and go back to your worries. Just take deep breaths and let it sink in. I don't blame you, no one does. We blame the freshmen who set up the stage and didn't listen when you said to put the book. So don't worry. Everything's okay, Sunshine.” Roman gently pressed his hand closer then removed it. 

He gave Virgil a grin then turned away and walked onstage because it was time to start again. As soon as he stepped into the light all traces of the boy who had just stood with Virgil were wiped away. He was entirely the character in the play, and nothing of him seemed to remain.

Virgil blinked, not sure what had just happened. The blinking didn't bring any clarity to the situation. He only knew that he believed Roman and that Roman really wasn't mad about what happened. The thing that really left Virgil disoriented about the whole occurrence was the last word.

Sunshine.


	23. Logan Read Cosmo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really sorry this update took so long I realized a pretty big mistake I made. At first I thought I had just ended up accidentally revealing something early a couple chapters ago and I edited it out but I realized that I had accidentally skipped posting an entire chapter and anyway i had to make a lot of revisions. Sorry bout that everybody!

Objectively the odds of the performance going well decreased significantly when you took into account their age, budget, and several other factors. However despite the obvious deficits they faced the final product was something that Logan was not ashamed of. He was certain that Virgil had been satisfied with the performance as well considering he had not seemed distressed afterwards. Everything had gone well except the one incident with the table which had been quickly resolved.

He redirected his focus to other pursuits. Which was in this case Virgil. It had been a long road to his realization. On which he and his father had to have a good deal of rather awkward discussions. Logan had soon realized he was… attracted to Virgil. The thought was still odd. 

He of course had sought out Roman's advice on the matter. Roman had looked at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. Logan suspected that this was not an encouraging sign. He glared at Roman until the other boy regained his composure. Roman finally looked at him and the last remnants of a smile were wiped from his face.

“Oh my flipping goodness your serious? I thought you were just making another one of your weird attempts at joking.” Roman shrugged. 

“What about this would be humorous?” He asked. Roman at least was smart enough to look ashamed. 

“I'm sorry it's just the concept of you and Surly Temple. I don't know, there was just something about that picture that was funny.” Roman said still fighting to keeping a smirk down. Logan didn't understand why it was a funny picture to Roman when that picture was all he could think about since he realized.

“Are you sure?” Roman's amusement melted away leaving behind a concerned look. Logan was surprised. He had not expected the sudden shift in attitude, nor did he expect Roman to be serious about this at all. He had to appreciate that Roman wasn't mocking him. 

“Of course, Virgil is…” Logan struggled for words. He didn't feel all the mushy things he often heard his peers talk about when speaking about their romantic feelings. He knew he understood Virgil easier than anyone else. He knew that he enjoyed talking to Virgil, he always reasoned his arguments even if the reasoning was very emotional. “Of course.” He repeated firmly even if he didn't have the words to finish his thought from before.

“I want you to know Logan if you try to hurt him I will not hesitate to protect him. The same goes for Patton.” Roman said staring him down fearlessly. Logan rolled his eyes, he expected that there would be some protective threats but it didn't make them any less ridiculous. If he didn't wish to have a relationship with Virgil what purpose would he have to communicate a falsehood in this instance? Logan nodded to the other boy making it clear he understood the risk he was taking by entering into this endeavor. 

“Fine then, I'll help you.” Roman conceded. Or rather conceited.

For the next hour they heatedly debated over what the best way to go about engaging in romantic behavior toward Virgil, or as Roman called it, flirting. Roman suggested he learn.spanish and recite beautiful words of endearment. Logan rejected the idea immediately, he wanted to convey that he liked Virgil, not become Roman. Eventually Logan realized he didn't know how to tell if Virgil liked him back. All emotions proved to be exceedingly cryptic to Logan. 

Roman, meanwhile was still brainstorming ideas each one more preposterous than the last. Logan wasn't really paying attention anymore trying to figure out he would know if Virgil wished to begin a relationship. He only tuned back in when he caught a particularly strange phrase.

“Kill the dragon then take his hand in marriage, honeym-" Logan held up a hand to stop him.

“Marriage?” Logan raised an eyebrow. Roman started pouting.

“You really haven't been paying any attention have you? This is the third scenario I've mentioned where you wed him one of which you guys adopted a little girl and named her Romilda after me. Why do I even bother to give you ideas if you don't listen?” Roman huffed.

“I'm going to research the signs of attraction,” said Logan, ignoring him entirely. Roman just looked confused now. 

“Okay Mr.Scientist but how are you going to get him to like you?” Roman mocked, he obviously was offended that Logan apparently didn't need him. He made a fair point, but Logan was not to that point in the plan yet.

“I will manage, would you like me to keep you updated on my progress?” Logan said rising from his seat at the table. He straightened his tie and pushed up his glasses. 

“Yeah I mean if it works out let me know.”Roman had said. Logan left soon after.

He researched on the topic of body language and how to tell if someone was attracted to you. He had read one too many articles from those shallow magazines that sit in the rack in the checkout line. He was fairly sure he new what to look for. All he had to do now was observe. Which is why he and Roman had invited everyone over to Logan's house.

It was simultaneously a celebration of the victory with the play, a chance for Roman to continue “wooing” Patton, and extra time for Logan to observe Virgil's reactions to him. If all went well he may know by the end of the night if Virgil felt the same as him.

Logan's dad drove them all to Logan's home after the play. As soon as they made it through the door they all retreated to Logan's room for the night.

They sat side by side in the bed. It was a tight squeeze, but Logan understood that the alternative would be sitting in separate places which would not be as “cozy”. Patton had to move the pillow so he had a place to sit and he set it in his lap. Logan sat next to him then Virgil was on his other side and Roman was sitting at the foot of the bed. Virgil pulled out a laptop and opened the internet.

“So I found this thing and it's pretty cool or whatever. Have you guys ever heard of the alignment charts?” Virgil said flipping to the search bar and typing.

Roman rolled his eyes “Of course, we haven't been living under a rock” 

“Now now you two, don't fight. Tonight's off to a bit of a rock-y start as is.” Patton grinned leaning forward to look at the other two.

Logan opened his mouth to speak. He was confused, what were alignment charts?

“Well, what do expect when you get the two of us together?” Roman said before Logan could ask his question. Sometimes he could barely get in a word with them.

“Wait,” He cut in before Virgil or Patton could retort. “What is an alignment chart?” He asked. Virgil turned to him and blinked a few times.

“Well it's like uhh… a chart and everyone falls on it somewhere and it sort of… I don't know it like shows what motivates you. Here.” Virgil turned the computer screen toward him. Logan looked at the small nine square chart. 

“Ahh I see. ” Logan said feeling intrigued. “What was it you were showing us about them?”

“We should take it I wanna see what you all get” Virgil shrugged. Patton smiled wide.

“I didn't know that there were tests you could take!” Patton said practically bouncing in his seat.

“Yeah there's a test for everything on the internet. Do you guys... ya know… actually want to take it because I get it of you don't.” Virgil muttered. Even though Virgil was the person who he could understand best out of anyone he still left Logan confused most of the time.

They were all sitting here, not otherwise indisposed. They were all aware they would be doing an activity together. Virgil made a suggestion about what they should do. No one had rejected the idea. In fact Patton had shown.clear signs of enthusiasm. Yet he was already shrinking back as if they had been mocking him. Logan didn't understand him at all. He was odd. 

“That sounds like fun!” Patton exclaimed adorably.

Virgil clicked through a few pages to get where he was going but soon passed the computer to Logan. Logan did his best to answer honestly. Although he felt guilty with Patton looking over his shoulder like this. Occasionally he would hover over an option and he could practically hear Patton’s disapproval. In the end he got lawful neutral. 

“Really? I was expecting you to get true neutral with how much you stick with what's sensible.” Roman said dramatically but in fairness Roman said everything dramatically. He shrugged and passed the computer to Virgil who took the test next. 

He was surprised by some of his answers. When the test asked about how many close friends Virgil had he answered “I tend to keep to myself". Logan figured they would all choose the same answer for that one, “I have a few close friends”. How very odd. He managed to not say it out loud this time. 

“Neutral good, honestly not surprised.” Virgil said nodding. “Look Princey, there's proof that I am not in fact an evil, dream killer.” Virgil sent Roman a pointed look.

“My turn, my turn.” Patton had been fidgeting like he was bored the whole time. “What do guys think I'll get?” Patton smiled as they passed the laptop. 

“Lawful good.” Roman and Virgil said in unison. Logan didn't really know what all of the alignments meant yet but that sounded quite fitting.

“Well I don't know,” Patton was fiddling with the sleeves of the hoodie wrapped around his shoulders. “I think I'd rather be Paw-ful good.” He said flipping up the hood of his jacket revealing the cat ears. Logan wondered who gave him that. Who thought that was a good idea?

Patton took the test and was indeed lawful good. Only one of Patton’s answers surprised him at all. There was a question asking one's opinions on finding one person to spend the rest of you life with. Patton after a few moments of indecision clicked on “I would be afraid to miss out on what others have to offer". Logan raised an eyebrow but said nothing. It wasn't his business anyway.

Roman got chaotic good which was unsurprising considering his first response to any and all issues seemed to be “Well I could fight them for you”. They all started discussing what characters fit where on the charts and what each alignment really meant.

It wasn't too long before Patton was slumped forward with his face buried in Logan's pillow and Virgil's head was on Logan's shoulder. They had both fallen asleep and he and Roman sat quietly for a minute. 

Logan took the time to evaluate how it felt for Virgil to be asleep on him. He had completely failed at looking for the body language signals throughout the night. He kept getting distracted. Now was a good time to just analyze what Virgil being asleep on him meant.

The first thing it meant was that he was unable to move or he may disturb Virgil. Logan found the very idea of waking him repellent. Virgil must stay asleep right where he was for as long as he was comfortable being there. Logan found the contact pleasant. It wasn't overwhelming like a hug could be. Virgil was simply there and there were no expectations placed on how Logan should act. He also knew that this was something he'd like to do again. Although his arm was falling asleep he would very much enjoy being able to sit with Virgil while he sleeps again soon.

He wondered if he was finally starting to feel the things that are generally attributed to romantic affection. Was this what Roman was experiencing?

“How does it feel to care for Patton?” He asked quietly, he glanced over to check that Patton was still asleep. Roman turned to him looking surprised. He took a moment before speaking to think. Since it was a first for him Logan gave him plenty of time.

“I don't really know,” Roman said honestly, “I've never not liked Patton at least a little. I haven't tried anything else so how could I describe it?” He said with a shrug. That shrug was a luxury that Logan didn't have right now. He looked at Roman for a second trying to discern whether he was mocking Logan. 

“I still don't understand why Patton gives me the time of day even as a friend. Much less why he deals with you two, but he does. And when Patton cares about you you can't ignore that.” Roman continued, he sounded genuine.

“What about you why do you like your guy?” Roman asked him clearly feeling as though this was fair play after answering Logan's question. However it wasn't since Roman had the ability to physically flee when asked and Logan was currently unable to move because of the head on his shoulder. 

“I don't fully understand why I like him. He's just the only person I know who really makes any sense. He seems to have more of a handle on reality than some. When he's hurting I want to make whatever is hurting him stop. I can't articulate it properly. I simply know I would do a long list of very irrational things if it would make him happy. I know that I enjoy every moment I'm around him.” Roman's eyes were wide as if he was watching something very interesting play out. Logan search for a succinct conclusion to what he was saying.

“He just fits.” Logan said. He felt Virgil's head move and he froze. He watched as Virgil sat up. Virgil's eyes were half open. Logan didn't know how much he had heard.

“He sounds like a lucky guy Lo.” Virgil offered him one of those small half smiles. He seemed to immediately start dozing off again. Logan tried not be disappointed when Virgil's head landed on Roman's shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is nothing I love writing more than Virgil falling asleep on people cuz that means he trusts them enough to feel comfortable letting down all his defenses and my boy really just needs a place to not feel anxious.


	24. The Freshmen Strike Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha the first time I actually post in a week and I forget that the archive is down whoops! But hey chapter 24!

It had been two weeks since the last play and they had already moved on to getting ready for the last play of the year. Everyone was being really mean to each other. The day after the play, Roman had started yelling at the freshman who had messed up on the set. Patton had tried to calm him down but it didn't work. 

Patton didn't know where this anger had come from. Logan seemed just as confused as him. Mr. Wynne had tried to intervene but Roman kept shouting about responsibility and passion for this art. He only stopped his rant when Virgil came in and laid a hand on his shoulder and whispered for him to stop. The freshmen looked scared half to death. That quickly turned into rebellion and half of the freshman left even though everyone begged them to stay.

If they lost the freshmen then there wouldn't be many people left. The few freshmen that stayed seemed really grumpy. Also, a bunch of terrible things had been happening. 

Everyone was saying that the freshmen were causing all the accidents but Patton didn't want to believe it. The theatre seats were just old, that's why one of the rows collapsed when sat on. The paint pan that had been left in the walkway to backstage had been left accidentally. It was a coincidence that it had been placed at some point in between the time Patton walked back and when he walked out on stage again. 

Patton sighed as he scrubbed the paint from his shoes. His pants were ruined with light blue splotches already drying on. There was no way this was an accident. Logan was right, the freshmen were trying to ruin things. 

He pants wasn't the worst of it. He had stepped on the corner of the paint pan and sent paint splattering across the stage. Mr. Wynne had been so mad, he understood it wasn't Patton’s fault but it was a bad situation considering the stage would now have to be painted over before they could use it again. Roman had volunteered to help Patton repaint it, which Patton appreciated. 

After he got the paint off of himself he went and got the leftover cans of brown paint from when the stage was last painted. Luckily they were still sitting backstage. They didn't have any rollers so this would take some time. He walked onstage with the cans and saw Roman evaluating the new sky blue polka dots the stage had. 

“Well I don't mean to b-rush you but we should get to work, we don't have a lot of time.” Patton waved the paint brushes with a smile. This really wouldn't be too boring. He liked painting and he had Roman with him so it could actually, maybe, be fun! 

They got to work painting with Roman whistling a tune that Patton couldn't name. Patton, as much as he liked painting, wished that the freshmen hadn't done this. He wished that they weren't all mad. He wished Roman hadn't yelled at them. He wished everyone would just stop fighting.

“Why don't you just apologize?” Patton pleaded

This hadn't been the first time he'd asked Roman to do this. Every other time Roman had simply said he wouldn't. 

“I can't Pat, I would love to do it because I want to get back to making art. I can't though.” Roman said firmly.

“Why can't you apologize? You shouldn't have yelled at them for something so small anyway. You could fix it. I could get them to listen to you.” Patton offered.

“I can't because I'm not sorry. I won't lie to them and say I've repented when I know that if given the chance I would do it all over again. Your entirely right that I shouldn't have yelled at them over forgetting to prop up a wobbly table. I yelled at them because of the effects it had. If I yell, they'll learn or they'll leave but fact is they won't do it again.” Roman declared. He acted as if he was defending the principles of justice themselves. 

“What effects?” Patton asked.

“You didn't see him Patton. It was worth it if he never looks at me like that again. It's worth it if I don't have to see him shaking because he's scared.” Roman said defensively.

“What happened? Who?” Patton was confused.

“Virgil,” Roman admitted quietly. “I mean he gets on my nerves sometimes with his dour attitude but I don't want to see him feeling that way. He looked like he was afraid of me Patton. Me. He was scared of what I was gonna say. He blamed himself for not catching their mistake. He was afraid that we were gonna be mad at him. I don't want him to be scared of me, so I took action to make sure it never happens again.” He continued growing more confident again as he reached the end.

There were no jokes, no clever nicknames. Roman was standing up for what he believed in, in his own way. Patton couldn't talk, much less word play. Roman was standing up for Virgil. Patton was hit with a wall of reminders about why he liked Roman so much. He was chivalrous and honorable and confident. He was amazing. Patton wanted to be with him. He wanted to protect Roman from all the bad things out there because he was too good to allow him to be hurt. 

Patton knew this wasn't the time for so many feelings. It took all of his self control but he decided to wait until all this nonsense blew over before he told Roman he liked him. He didn't want to stress Roman further. Plus he needed time to figure out something special.

He could tell that secretly Roman was way less sure of his decision than he let on. Patton could see him wondering if there was a better way that he should have done it. There probably was but Patton was glad it was this way. If it had been anything calm or normal, it wouldn't be Roman.


	25. Notes on Relationships

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today we have a bit of logince. I hope you like it!  
> Lots of love to anyone who's having a hard day, I hope tomorrow is better!

Mr. Wynne had been acting utterly betrayed lately. The stage was one thing, but when someone tampered with his seats, that was a declaration of war. They were all sitting together trying to figure out what play they could do with so few people and so small of a budget. Seat repairs had been surprisingly expensive. 

Roman and Logan were leading the discussion. No real ideas came up and tensions were high. The group dispersed having reached no solutions. They had no ideas but they couldn't sit there all day. The club broke off into little groups to talk and hang out until the club was over. Logan was still mad at him for causing this, but at least he had Patton on his side. The fighting wasn't as bad as when they first met. After all, they were friends now… or something. 

The strangest part was that despite all of the bickering, he and Logan kept ending up like this. It was the third time that week. They were laying on the floor in front of the stage. They usually didn't talk they just soaked in the feeling of having a problem that having a plan and being determined couldn't solve. Roman hated feeling like his talents weren't being used.

“So, how is your relationship with Patton progressing?” Logan broke the silence. Roman groaned in response. Roman was grateful for the distraction, but did it have to be the one other thing he was feeling less than fabulous about? He wasn't entirely sure what his plan is with Patton. 

He could ask Patton out, or he could show his affection with some grand gesture. What would be grand enough though? He also was kind of embarrassed but he wished Patton would ask. Maybe he could wait to see If Patton would ask. If he did, at least he would know for sure that Patton wanted this. He would know that Patton liked him too. He didn't know what he was doing anymore. 

It was possible Patton still didn't want to give up on whoever he had crushes on, even if Roman was lucky enough to be one of them. He had a lot of dreams when it came to romance but he never really expected to have such a hard time with this. If only there were a Disney song to express this frustration, but none were coming to mind.

“What's the point?” Logan asked suddenly. Roman sat up to look him in the face. What did he mean by that? Was this Logan having an existential crisis?

“I simply mean, it's starting to seem like an excessive amount of stress to be putting ourselves under. I mean, I understand that one possible objective is copulation.” Roman almost choked. No one ever had ever said Logan was romantic. “However, I'm not prepared to take on such activities at this time. So I'm failing to see how the benefits exceed those of friendship.” 

Roman took a moment before responding. Of course there was an emotional aspect to it. You had to be emotionally close with someone. There's also the element of commitment. He figured Logan would argue that they were already there though. Roman didn't think he'd be wrong. 

“I admit the physical stuff is a large part of it in my opinion.” Roman knew that wasn't how everyone felt on it but he did. He hated how easily Logan broke down something Roman had spent hours and hours of thought on. “But sex isn't all of it. There's cuddling.” Roman said trying to defend himself.

“Cuddling? Do we not do that?” Logan said looking confused. Well technically… actually… yes. Not intentionally though, they just fell asleep and woke up that way.

“And hugging, and kissing, and that sort of thing” Roman tried again. Logan rolled his eyes.

“We hug as well. So currently the only thing that would be gained is kissing.” Logan said factually. With their situations yes that would be true...

“I… Well yes I suppose. Did you have to phrase it like that?” Logan ignored his frustration. Logan had a skill in this. Picking apart people's reasoning until everything felt ridiculous. Roman laid back down and shut his eyes. 

“Roman?” Logan said carefully. Roman opened his eyes and glanced at him. “Is kissing enjoyable?” Logan inquired. 

Roman's face felt hot. Logan had surprised him again. It was really starting to weird him out. Logan's questions were never what he expected with these things. Roman didn't known how to respond. Truthfully, Roman hadn't been kissed. He didn't know. It was supposed to be a special thing right? That wasn't something he was going to admit to Logan though. He wasn't used to talking about kissing so logically. Especially not with Logan. Not that this was a subject they had talked about before.

“It depends on who you're kissing.” Roman said sitting up, again. There, that wasn't untrue. Kissing wouldn't be enjoyable if done with the wrong person. Logan nodded and was quiet for a while. The silence felt awkward now.

After a few minutes Logan spoke up again. “I am going to continue my efforts to begin a relationship with Virgil.” Logan stood up straighten his already perfectly straight tie and walked away. 

Roman saw him walking away to talk to Virgil. Whenever Virgil spoke, Logan gave him his undivided attention. Roman couldn't help but think Virgil was lucky to have someone who looked at him like that. Now alone, Roman sat in front of the stage with even less answers than he had before the conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay now before I find out I've offended anyone let me repeat Roman (and myself) are aware that ace people may not experience romantic relationships in the way they talk about here. This is just how these characters experience it. I hope I haven't made anyone feel hurt with this, these things are someyimes difficult to navigate.


	26. This Non-Situation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is ever so slightly angstier than usual but like barely

Virgil was the shortest of his friends. There wasn't a huge height difference between any of them, but Roman liked to lord that extra inch over him. It wasn't often that Virgil was actually bothered by his height. This was one of the rare occasions.

Virgil had to reach his head phones off of the top shelf of Logan's bookcase. How did they get there? Well according to Roman, Virgil had put them there the last time they all stayed the night at Logan's house. Virgil thought that Roman probably had something to do with it, considering they were on a shelf he couldn't even reach, but whatever.

He was on the tips of his toes and he was only able to brush them with his finger. In the end, all he succeeded in was pushing them further back. He didn't want to get a chair to stand on right now. He just wanted to sit back down on the bed he'd laid out for himself on the floor. It was late and he was tired. Roman was already asleep in the desk chair, and Patton was looking drowsy laying on the floor in a little bed he'd made himself. Logan was sitting on the bed reading.

“Well I need to go brush my teeth.” Logan announced closing his book and standing up. He stopped behind Virgil as he passed. 

Logan leaned across him and reached up to grab his head phones. His chest was against Virgil's back for a second before he pulled back. He handed Virgil the headphones and continued out, down the hall, and to the bathroom. 

Virgil felt shaky. Logan had just been grabbing the headphones. Of course he had. That was nice of him. Virgil stood, frozen, he was a statue now. He thought he might never move again. After a minute Logan returned. 

“If you prefer, you can have the bed tonight. I can sleep on the floor.” Logan offered generously. Virgil had to move now. He had to speak and he had to make actual words. He had to respond to Logan's suggestion before it got awkward.

“Uh... N- no- no thanks I'm… I'm good on the floor tonight.” He stuttered. Logan gave him a nod and crossed the room to his bed. Great job Virge, that wasn't weird. He just needed to calm down. Logan had just been being helpful. It had meant nothing. All this proved was that Virgil had a messed up mind and needed to stop thinking that way. 

Besides, Logan liked that guy that he was talking to Roman about three or four weeks ago. Virgil just had to put the incident out of his mind. It wasn't even an incident. Saying incident implied that something of note happened. And nothing of note had happened at all. 

Virgil had to tell Patton. As much as he told himself it was nothing, he needed confirmation. You know just to make sure it was nothing. He finally forced himself to move. He went and sat on the makeshift bed next to Patton’s. When Logan finally fell asleep Virgil woke Patton. He hoped Patton wouldn't be mad at him. Patton’s eyes opened just a crack and he peered at Virgil. 

“What's up kiddo?” Patton said letting his eyes close again. Clearly Virgil did not have his full attention here. He needed Patton right now so he shook his shoulder. Patton’s eyes opened again.

“Right, sorry, what do you need?” Patton said pushing himself up on his elbows. Virgil tried to find a way to say it that would show how little of a thing it was. 

“Logan got my headphones off the shelf for me” He said. He wanted to sound nonchalant but in reality, he realized that he had just woken Patton up at close to one in the morning on a school night. There was no way to pretend that this hadn't thrown him through a loop. 

He didn't know why though. Like he wasn't oblivious. He knew why, he just didn't know why now. He had known Logan for months now. You'd think he would have noticed something like this before now.

He wasn't going to lie to himself and say he hadn't been hoping for a split second that Logan was going for a hug. He just hadn't expected this now. Especially since Logan barely seemed to be interested in relationships much less one with Virgil. He was interested in some other guy. Virgil understood that, so why did he still freeze up, why did he blush, why did he wake up Patton?

“Oh yeah?” Patton said obviously trying to not be dismissive but not understanding Virgil's point. 

“Patton I don't want to like him.” Virgil whispered feeling miserable. Patton’s eyes widened in understanding and then confusion. 

“Stop the car, let's make a U-turn back to where you explain this to me.” Patton rubbed his eyes. Virgil felt bad for putting this on Patton now.

“Look, it would be nice and all because he's Logan and he's my friend, but he probably doesn't feel the same.” Virgil felt the reality of these words to settle in. He really did like Logan. He liked that he knew how to be serious. He liked that Logan defended him against Roman when Roman went too far. It wasn't some dramatic realization really; Logan was his best friend. Sure he had known Patton longer, but if anyone out of the three of them knew how to chill the fuck out, it was Logan. He liked Logan. He just couldn't like Logan because it wouldn't end well.

“What makes you say that?” Patton asked gently. The reasons felt endless. Because Virgil was such a downer, because Logan was gorgeous and elegant and Virgil slouched in a hoodie, because even though Virgil wasn't an idiot, he was compared with Logan. He couldn't tell Patton those things though.

“Because he's so sharp and logical and I'm always getting emotional and freaking out.” He explained. His eyes were stinging 

“He may want that. It's not for you to decide. Not to mention you guys would be cute together. He could use someone to balance him a little.” Patton pulled Virgil into a hug. Virgil wanted to be comforted. He wanted to be fine and just relax. He wanted to feel butterflies in his stomach when he talked to Logan. Not regret after every single syllable. That kinda applied to most of his interactions though.

“That's not the only problem is it?” Patton pulled back smiling sadly. Virgil shook his head, trying to blink back tears. 

“He's smart and beautiful and witty an-” Virgil gritted his teeth. “And I… I'm me. I like him but there's no reason for him to want to be with me. I couldn't even scold a bunch of freshmen by myself. I don't want to like him when I know it's not going to happen.” 

His voice was shaking. Patton listened to what he had to say and nodded slowly.

“Everything is going to work out. I swear.”Patton said firmly, pulling him back into the hug. Virgil didn't have the energy to disagree verbally anymore and Patton sounded very sure. Patton rubbed his hand in circles across Virgil's back. Virgil focused on the rhythm of Patton’s breathing and forced himself to match it. 

He didn't want to worry anymore. He wanted Patton to be right. So he didn't let himself think of anything else. When any thoughts snuck in, he silenced them with Patton’s words. No more talking, no more worrying. Not tonight. Everything is going to work out.

Virgil fell asleep after a little while.


	27. Would You Like to be Relatable?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm proud to announce Analogical becomes official!  
> Thanks for reading up to this point everyone!

Logan woke up the next morning feeling fairly proud of himself. He had, in his opinion succeeded at “flirting”. Roman had suggested he employ casually touching Virgil in order to gauge his reactions better. The effects had been promising. Virgil's pupils had dilated, he had stuttered and blushed. All signs did point to mutual attraction. Except the fact that Virgil hadn't moved at all in the time Logan had been in the bathroom. If he was honest Logan did not know exactly what to make of that. Perhaps he should try once more just so he knew for sure. 

However he wasn't sure if he had made the best move when he sat up and looked around his room at his friends. Roman was still slumped in the desk chair. He frowned when he saw Patton and Virgil laying together on the floor. Patton was curled around Virgil hugging him. 

Logan remembered what Roman had said about cuddling. Was this a sign that Patton and Virgil were attracted to each other or perhaps even together? Was this intentional? Had they intentionally fallen asleep like this? Had Virgil's response perhaps been uncomfortable rather than a sign of romantic attraction? He waited thinking for a while until his dad knocked on the door. He poked his head in.

“Hey guys I was going to make breakfast when you all woke up but I'm hungry so you're waking up now.” His dad said pleasantly before walking away. Roman sat up straight in the chair. He stretched which caused several pops from his joints. Logan had tried to warn him sleeping in a chair wouldn't be conducive to spinal alignment. Virgil tried to sit up first but was trapped until Patton moved. 

“I'm going to go get dressed.” Logan said avoiding eye contact with Virgil. If Virgil and Patton were together, he didn't want to damage that. He didn't want to give Virgil up but he doubted he had a choice. He went to his closet and pulled out his black shirt and a pair of pants. He went to the bathroom to change. He looked in the mirror and tied his tie. He regretted having committed to this. He regretted not seeing the signs sooner. Logan was… unused to emotional pain. It was strange how it resemble physical pain in some ways. For example Logan was having difficulty breathing regularly. His jaw was clenched and he was unsure of how to unclench it. His eyes were also stinging bit that was certainly unrelated. He found looking at the symptoms clinically helped to move his focus away from the actual sensation of… sadness. 

He stepped out of the bathroom ready to face Virgil as friends once again. With absolutely no chance of that changing. His throat felt tight but that was also unrelated. Then his arm was pulled and he was dragged into the other direction. Patton had a grip on his wrist and was dragging him down the hall and stopped in front of the linen closet. 

“You need to ask out Virgil, now.” Patton said seriously. Logan did not understand what was happening. Had his theory been wrong? He did not enjoy being wrong, but in this instance he could learn to accept it.

“Wait, so you are not attracted to Virgil?” Logan asked trying to sound unaffected. Patton’s eyes widened.

“Wha-what? I mean uhh… you just really need to ask him out because he thinks you'll never like him and he just doesn't deserve this stress” Patton said firmly. His face was red. 

“That's seems rather hypocritical considering the current state of your relationship with Roman.” Logan said raising an eyebrow. Patton turned even redder. Logan had not realized it was possible. 

“This can't be about me. Go out there and get yourself a boyfriend.” Patton said dismissing Logan. Logan thought that was an odd way to phrase it but he didn't get to dwell on it.

“He's right ya know.” Logan's dad rounded the corner. He dug in the linen closet as he spoke. “You've been staring at that boy for more than three months. Just ask him out so we can have breakfast in peace. You’re being a chicken.”

“Falsehood!” Logan shouted. His dad raised an eyebrow at him. He cleared his throat, “My apologies.” He muttered.

“Father what is your purpose for being back here?” Logan said in a calm, not at all pouty, tone. 

“My apron of course.” His dad slipped the loop over his head and gestured to the apron. “It's less about keeping my clothes clean and more about the whole cooking vibe, ya know?”

Logan took a deep breath and prepared himself. He turned and took a step toward the living room. Patton stopped him and turned him around. Patton tightened his tie for him and his dad reached over and tousled his hair. They both looked him over and seemed satisfied. It seemed to him that they were working towards opposing goals but he wasn't an expert on these things.

They both shooed him into the living room like they hadn't been the ones to make him stop. He walked with purpose where Virgil was bent over tying his shoe. He waited until Virgil was finished and then cleared his throat. Virgil looked up at him. He was suddenly at a loss for words. Virgil's eyes drilled into him expectantly. 

He had strategized for weeks about which words to use. They had been perfect. Straightforward and honest and perfectly formulated. Now they were just gone. It was as if he hadn't prepared at all. 

“I was- I had hoped- I-" Logan stuttered. He huffed in frustration at himself. All he had to do was ask if Virgil would like to be his boyfriend. Then his part would be done. It would be Virgil's part after that. Words tripped out of his mouth without screening. 

“Would you like to be relatable?” Logan asked. Logan covered his mouth with his hand. Virgil's raised an eyebrow. Logan thought the room seemed warm. He wondered if Virgil was warm. He wondered if Virgil thought he was an idiot because he wasn't saying anything that made sense. He was just standing looking at Virgil. Words would be highly appreciated in that moment. Preferably strung into a sentence this time . 

“What? Aren't I always?” Virgil looked confused. Logan forced himself to take a deep breath and plan his words. He repeated the phrase twice in his head before moving his hand. 

“Would you like to be in a relationship?” Logan amended attempting to regain control of himself. Virgil's eyes narrowed. 

“What do you mean?” He acted like Logan had said something extremely suspicious. Logan cleared his throat again in attempt to stall for time until he had some answer to give. He straightened his glasses.

“As in begin a romantic relationship.” He said nervously. “Between me and you.” He clarified just in case. 

Virgil didn't say anything. He didn't move. Logan was tempted to make sure he was breathing. He didn't, he let Virgil have a moment while Logan inspected his shoes. Then he looked back at Virgil after the moment. Virgil still hadn't moved. Had Logan frozen him again? 

What if he had read all the signs wrong? What if Virgil didn't feel this way? Was he trying to figure out a kind way to say no? Logan tried to silence these thoughts. He had no proof that those were the things Virgil was thinking. Besides a glance at the clock told him only seconds had passed. It seemed much longer.

Logan cleared his throat, again. His throat was very clear “Virgil?” Logan said tentatively. Virgil seemed to snap out of whatever had been going on in his head. 

“Yes.” Virgil said looking away, down at his shoes. Logan glanced down to see what he was looking at. Virgil's face was red. He was undeniably adorable when he blushed. 

Logan didn't actually know what to say. It wasn't that he forgot a plan he had already made. He just hadn't thought this far ahead. Statistically speaking, he had a much better chance of failure than of success. He hadn't been expecting to need something to say after Virgil said yes because he hadn't expected Virgil to say yes. 

When Virgil glanced up at him Logan couldn't help but smile. He offered his hand to Virgil and he took it. Logan found it surprisingly pleasant. Virgil's hand was warm which was nice because Logan's hands were always cold. He liked feeling Virgil grip his hand as if for confirmation that they were indeed dating now. Logan attempted to commit the feeling to memory. 

They walked into the kitchen to the sound of obnoxious whoops from Roman and his father. Patton gave them a soft smile and quickly turned back to the stove to flip what he was cooking. Altogether, that morning was very pleasant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey is there like ship names of their actual names? Cuz there's like prinxiety and logicality and all that but I was wondering if anyone knew ones with their real names maybe?


	28. Summer memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this particular chapter has four stories. I hope it is clear where it's divided haha. It's also a bit longer than usual. Thanks for reading.

That summer was so much fun! Patton's favorite day was when Patton, Virgil, and Logan were riding in the car. Roman was driving. Patton couldn't believe it, how it was so weird that they were old enough to have learned to drive. Roman had his eyes on the road, focused completely on the task at hand. You could say he's a car-ful driver. 

Patton was sitting in the passenger side with his window rolled down. He leaned into the breeze coming through the window trying to cool down. It didn't help the air coming through the window was warm too. It was getting to early May and the air conditioner didn't work in the car.

That was the thing about it. The car was Roman's now but it had belonged to his brother Arthur for years, but it had been used when Arthur's parents first bought it. They had given it to Roman when Arthur went to college in Washington. The outside of the car was dark blue and still very pretty. Arthur had apparently taken very good care of it. 

The air conditioner didn't work though. The leather on the seats was cracked, and the radio only seemed to work when you asked very, very nicely. Still it was amazing! Roman always brought one of those Bluetooth speakers so he could play music and they just rolled down the windows when it was hot. Except the driver's side back window, that one didn't open.

It was a car though! And they could all go out and do things together now. The state of the car didn't matter.

All Patton cared about right then was what everyone else in the car was doing. Logan was looking out the window and gently tracing circles on the back Virgil hand. Their fingers were loosely laced together across the center seat. Meanwhile Virgil was asleep and the wind was ruffling his hair. Patton wondered if having messy hair when your asleep in a car still counted as bedhead. 

Roman was staring straight ahead and quietly humming along to anything that came on. The music was mostly Hamilton and classical music. Patton didn't really like classical music, it all kind of sounded the same to him. Roman seemed to share his opinion because he wrinkled his nose every time another came on before continuing humming with it. Patton wondered why Roman had a playlist with classical music if he didn't like it.

No one talked for the whole ride until they got there. That was okay though, it was nice to not worry about if he was saying the right things. It was nice to just be around them for a while. The car shutting off jolted Virgil awake. They all got out.

<><><>

During the summer after sophomore year, there was hardly a day when Roman didn't feel absolutely jovial. There was one day when Roman woke up in Logan's house which at that point was no longer out of the ordinary anymore. He had probably been spending equal amounts of time at Patton and Logan's houses as he was at his own. They had all stayed the night so that they didn't have to travel to hang out that day.

He went to the bathroom and pulled on the clean t shirt from his bag. Then he went out to the kitchen. Mr. Cuinn was rushing around the kitchen avoiding bumping into Patton and Logan who were already up. Roman heard a click of the bathroom door down the hall and assumed Virgil had taken the bathroom to get ready. 

Mr. Cuinn grabbed a travel mug of coffee and his keys off the counter. “Going to work. Bye everybody!” He shouted loud enough to be heard in the bathroom. Virgil poked his head out with only one eye eyeshadowed and waved.

Days like this were nice. It was like curling up in a blanket on a rainy day. On this particular day, it was exactly like that Roman realized. He had caught a glimpse of the street outside when Mr. Cuinn disappeared out the door. It was pouring out. 

Logan walked up to him holding a plate with two pieces of toast on it. Each piece had a thick smear of jelly across the top. 

“Oh thanks, but I'm not a huge jelly guy.” Roman said, expecting Logan to take the plate back. He didn't, he just held the plate out looking like Roman had said the earth was flat. 

“This is Crofter’s.” He said like that was supposed to change Roman's view on it entirely. Roman merely gave Logan a blank look. Logan picked up a piece of toast and held it up to Roman's face. “Try it.” He demanded. Roman was sure that if he didn't listen Logan might lose it. Roman took the toast out of Logan's hand. Logan walked back to the counter. He took a small bite to satisfy Logan. Then Roman realized what a fool he had been. 

Logan nodded in agreement with Roman's unspoken new opinion. He held up the jar smugly. “Crofter’s, the only jelly I will put in my belly.” Roman nodded, even if Logan sounded like a commercial, he wasn't wrong. It was pretty flipping delicious. 

“Your right, it's pretty grape.” Patton said. “I hope we don't run out or we'll be in a jam.” Logan glared at Patton.

“Was that necessary? It's not even a grape jelly. That pun just wasn't berry good.” Logan said rolling his eyes. Patton’s face lit up like crazy. He was beautiful.

Virgil came out of the bathroom this time fully emo. They all stood around the kitchen eating their toast. “So what's the plan today?” Virgil asked, taking a bite out of his toast. 

They watched movies until the rain let up.

<><><>

They were heading to the park to hang out because according to Logan, sunlight was extremely good for you. Virgil didn't buy it. They made It to the park and all piled out of the too hot car into the too hot sun. Virgil immediately made a beeline for the little shaded area with picnic tables. Everyone followed him and sat at the table with him. Logan sat next to him.

“It was my intention to get you into the sun. Was that not the purpose of this escapade?” Logan asked amusement coloring his tone.

“It was, but then you brought me to hell.” Virgil said tugging off his hoodie. It was weird to take it off when people could see. The idea of being stared at made him shiver despite the heat. It was just the four of them in the park right now though so no one would see him.

“If we are not here for vitamin F, or whatever, what are we here for?” Roman seeming to enjoy the temperature about as much as Virgil. Virgil didn't respond, instead he flopped his head down on the table.

“The company. Who need sunlight when you have all of your sunny dispositions” Patton joked. Virgil cracked a small smile when he saw the grin on Patton’s face.

After a few comfortably quiet minutes Roman turned on music on his phone. As Roman set it face down on the picnic table Logan asked “Roman why is my name on your phone?” 

“Oh it's the Logan playlist.” Roman said staring into the distance. He did that alot and always looked really focused like He was intensely designing a daydream.

“Logan playlist?” Patton asked. 

“You know the list with the music I thought he would like or at least tolerate best.” Roman said glancing over at Patton. 

“When did you make me a playlist?” Logan stared at Roman curiously. Roman was seeming embarrassed, you could tell because he started acting even more pompous than normal. 

“Right after I made one for Virgil, but before I made one for Patton of course. Don't be ridiculous Logan did you really think I enjoy listening to classical music?” Roman said snarkily.

“Classical music holds fascinating mathematical properties.” Logan murmured, as he looked at Roman inquisitively. 

“I know...” Roman trailed of vaguely, he sounded like there was more he wanted to say but he didn't. 

“Thank you?” Logan said, sounding confused. Virgil was not sure what the fuck was going on. 

Logan started tapping his fingers on the table, whispering “one, two, three, four, one, two..." in time with the music. He was so calm.

“I… like it here.”Logan said suddenly. “You all often stay up late at night which is pleasant at night. This practice however causes me to often fall asleep at this time of day which is unfortunate. Here I am able to more easily stay awake” Logan said this factually, looking over at him.

“Why is it unfortunate?” Virgil asked trying to keep his voice level as he felt his cheeks heat up. 

“Because then I don't have the chance to do this.” Logan leaned forward and pressed his lips softly against Virgil's. It was chaste and quick and it was over. It was too quick. As soon as Logan pulled away Virgil wished he could do it again.

“You okay there, Incredible Sulk? Looking less pale than usual” Roman asked smirking. Logan was looking at Virgil with an eyebrow raised, faintly amused. Virgil felt his cheeks get even warmer and cleared his throat.

“Shut up Roman.” 

<><><>

The recollection Logan favored most from that summer took place on July seventeenth.

“Okay, then we put two teaspoons of vanilla.” Patton had said handing Logan the bottle of vanilla extract.

Logan frowned, “That's not what the recipe calls for. It specifically says one teaspoon.” Logan had agreed to make a cake with Patton. He had thought it would be simply following the instructions. However nothing with Patton ever proved to be that clear cut.

Virgil and Roman had promised to help which apparently meant sitting on Patton's kitchen counter taking up valuable space. Logan needed the space to setup the stand mixer but they refused to budge. Logan sighed. He admittedly didn't despise their presence there as much as he let on.

“Trust me I Va-know-la what I'm doing.” Patton grinned. Logan sighed and tipped in the extra vanilla. 

“Have you preheated the oven yet? Or added some non-stick substance to the surface of the pan?” Logan asked.

“No, don't preheat the oven til you have it all mixed.” Virgil groaned from his seat on the countertop. “It's hot out and we don't need the oven on ‘til the last second.” Logan had noticed Virgil did not seem to enjoy heat very much.

“Have you considered taking off that hoodie?” Roman responded. Logan rolled his eyes and focused his attention back to choosing the right attachment for the mixer. Logan started mixing the batter. 

Once the batter was in the pan, Patton preheated the oven; apparently he had done as Virgil asked. That course of action was entirely ridiculous from a time management perspective. It could be permitted in the grounds of Virgil wanting them to. Which were completely reasonable grounds to permit something based on.

After the required time, they removed the cake from the oven. Logan helped to prepare the frosting while the cake itself cooled. After adding powdered sugar and vanilla and cream cheese, Patton insisted on Logan doing the mixing. He put the hand mixer into the bowl and turned it on.

He must have had it on too high. Perhaps it was the angle at which he held the mixer. Perhaps it could have been not mixing the cream cheese with the vanilla beforehand. The causes were not immediately important all that mattered was that Logan was covered in powdered sugar from his shoulders up. He was wearing an apron but it had not saved his clothing. 

“Look he's even sweeter now!” Patton said with a grin. Logan was certain he would be mocked for this later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moral of the story I headcannon that Virgil hates the heat.


	29. Not a Thinking Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY I CAN EXPLAIN!  
> I know, I know it's been a while I just hope to god you guys are still here cuz it would majorly suck if no one was following this after all this time I've put into it hahaha.  
> But this chapter had to be edited and then I had to rewrite it but I hope y'all like this.

Summer went by extremely quickly! It was odd Roman felt like the whole thing was a just few, maybe four, extremely memorable days… weird. 

Logan and Virgil were together and it was good. Patton hadn't technically asked him out but there had been a few moments when Roman thought… well never mind. 

Now it was time to pursue his goals! Back to the school year! Back to acting and singing! 

He had actually had an appointment with a guidance counselor earlier in the day when he tried to change his class schedule. He had been thoroughly informed that he could “do so much better than acting". Which of course had only renewed his passion, fanning the flames into a bonfire! There was no career better than acting! 

It was lunchtime on the third day of school now but it was never to early to start figuring out which play to do. Roman strode into the theatre and strutted down the aisle between seats toward the stage. He was joined by one of the newer kids who was about his age.

“Hey bitch.” The boy said casting a look over his sunglasses at Roman. He took a sip from his Starbucks cup.

“Hello Remy" Roman said smirking back. They had been forbidden from talking by Mr. Wynne, Logan, Virgil and just about anyone else with any sense. They tended to get carried away talking because both of them had rather… vivid imaginations. Last time they were left alone to their ideas, they had rewritten Romeo and Juliet but in Hogwarts and that was after just three minutes.

He considered he could get away with hanging out with Remy for a bit. However, Roman had no time for goofing off today so he chose to continue walking without engaging Remy any further. He wanted to but now was not the time for daydreaming.

Remy clicked his tongue “What, you’re just leaving like that? Fine.” Even Roman had to admit Remy was a bit extra. 

Roman went backstage and saw Patton painting Logan's face with face paint. He knew Logan would never agree to that for anyone else. He did look mildly concerned but he wasn't asking Patton to stop. He didn't know why they were doing this but honestly Patton just loved paint so he wasn't surprised. There was a bunch of colored streaks on Logan's face like Patton was turning him into a Van Gogh painting or something. 

Perhaps the drama club really was a weird place. 

It actually was fascinating to look at. Partially because of the effect of the paint, partially because Logan was nice to look at sometimes. Patton was pulling out a set of browns to add shading maybe. They were talking quietly and Patton was carefully layering the streaks. 

Then the door to the costume closet swung open with a bang. It must have startled Patton because now the was a long dark streak across the bridge of Logan's nose. Logan sighed heavily. 

Mr. Wynne walked out of the costume closet calling everyone to gather around him. He seemed slightly puzzled by Logan's new look (as did Virgil when he exited the prop closet to join the group), but he just brushed it off and turned his attention to whatever he had been calling them for. Never a dull moment, not that Roman would want there to be.

Roman grinned joining the group gathering around. He stood next to Patton who had paint on his fingers. “Alright as some of you may know I've been trying to get this club more officially recognized" Mr. Wynne began. Roman actually didn't know about that but it was suddenly all he had ever wanted in his life. 

If they were like a class or something you could letter in, and then it would look better when he tried to get into acting school! Not that he needed it since he was already completely competent and could probably out act Leo DiCaprio. Then Roman would get the Oscar! 

“Well I was just on the phone getting final confirmation but we are and official drama department! That means almost nothing’s changed except for the name and the fact that the school with give us funding!” Mr. Wynne announced. Roman shouted in excitement and everyone else exploded into cheers around him. Funding? They would be able to cut back on fundraising! And they wouldn't have to worry so much about ticket prices and they would be respected.

Patton grabbed Roman's hands. Roman laughed as Patton spun him as if they were dancing. At the end of the spin Roman steadied himself holding onto Patton’s shoulders.

Full disclosure, Roman wasn't having a “thinking about your actions” type of day. That combined with the momentary excitement Roman didn't even think twice about what to do next. Roman leaned up and crushed his lips against Patton’s who tensed for a second but relaxed and pulled Roman closer. Roman melted a little.

They may have gotten a little carried away because soon Mr. Wynne cleared his throat pointedly and they broke apart. Patton still kept an arm around Roman's waist. 

“‘Bout time" Virgil scoffed. 

“Quite.” Logan agreed “I had almost begun believing it would never happen.” A faint smile played on his lips. 

“Please limit the excessive kissing.” Mr. Wynne said with a sigh. Everyone was whispering around them. Patton laughed and Roman could feel the vibrations in Patton’s chest 

“Sorry.” Patton giggled. Roman wasn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sleep is a side.   
> Change my mind.  
> Hahahaha


	30. Halloween!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow less than a week between postings. Is this a sign of the apocalypse?   
> Lol just a bit of movie night fun.

Virgil's time had finally come. The time of year when everyone else loved Nightmare Before Christmas as much as him. The time of year where his edginess was encouraged and mirrored in others. October (which was the same thing as Halloween). Halloween starts on October 1st as everyone who's not a clueless moron knows.

Patton agreed to do anything he wanted on Halloween as long as he agreed to do whatever Patton wanted on Christmas. Virgil was taking advantage of that. Halloween fell on a friday this year and they would all go over to Patton’s house to have a scary movie marathon. Patton was making snacks. Virgil had chosen all the movies they would watch. They were staying at Patton’s because Patton’s parents didn't mind if they stayed up all night. 

It was five o'clock when they started the first movie. Virgil figured they would start with The Conjuring because it was the only horror movie Virgil owned. They all sat on Patton’s couch and Patton dropped like six blankets on them. Then plopped himself down, leaving space in between him and Virgil for Roman.

“Virgil may I inquire,” Logan began as the FBI warning came up, “why we are watching a movie in the horror genre?” Virgil looked at him.

“It's Halloween, Pocket protector.” Virgil rolled his eyes. 

“No, I mean you have a tendency to have a fear response even when you aren't watching something designed to trigger it. Why was this your choice in activity?” Logan raised an eyebrow. Virgil smirked, he supposed that was Logan speak for “You're already an anxious mess. Why are you trying to make it worse?” 

“Actually, it was Roman's idea.” Virgil shrugged. Roman entered with the bowl of popcorn and a bag of candy. The good mix, without the Dots. 

“Really?” Logan looked doubtful. 

“Of course calculator watch. Who doesn't love scary movies?” Roman swung a blanket around his shoulders like it was cape. He sat gracefully leaving Virgil sandwiched between Logan and Roman. 

Patton raised his hand “I don't.” Roman looked betrayed.

“Nor do I,” Logan added, “These movies depend almost entirely on the viewer’s instinctual fight or flight response. They replace plot with ‘jumpscares’.” Logan lifted his hands in air quotes. “Quite frankly Virgil I'm surprised that you enjoy them. I thought your tastes were slightly more refined.”

“And what are my tastes?!” Roman said laying a hand on his chest, offended.

“Sweet!” Patton kissed Roman's cheek and grabbed the candy from his lap. Virgil was seventy-five percent sure that “sweet” wasn't a real answer to Roman's question but it seemed to distract him from the implied insult. They were an adorable couple. Sometimes too adorable.

“I actually like horror movies sometimes. It's nice to worry about things that aren't real for a while.” Virgil shrugged and pressed play. It was a small couch and he was basically snuggled against Logan and Roman.

They watched the movie as the family moved into the obviously ominous house. As the movie continued and the jumpscares started, Virgil always flinched but Roman seemed to be taking it worse. At a particularly creepy one, Roman latched on to his arm. Virgil saw he already had a tight grip on Patton’s hand too. Virgil expected Roman to let go once the shock wore off. He didn't though his grip loosened slightly, his hand was still firmly wrapped around Virgil's forearm. 

Patton was freaked out but by the end didn't seem any worse for wear. As soon as the credits rolled, he gave Roman's hand a quick squeeze and headed to his room to change into pajamas before the next movie. Logan stood and gave Virgil a nod toward the kitchen that meant “follow me”. Virgil stood to walk with Logan but Roman's grip on his arm tightened momentarily.

“Where are you going?” Roman's eyes flicked from Logan to Virgil and back again.

“I was intending to talk to Virgil in the kitchen.” Logan said almost… gently.

“Why do you have to go to the kitchen to talk when you're both here now?” Roman said loosening his grip on Virgil's arm and finally releasing him. 

“You can come with if your scared” Virgil said half joking half seriously offering. Roman glared up at him.

“I was trying to save you the extra steps. If you want to go to the kitchen, go to the kitchen. I'm not scared. Don't be ridiculous” Roman spat.

“Your mom is ridiculous.” Virgil replied reflexively. Then he followed Logan to the kitchen.

“What movie did you plan for next?” Logan asked seriously.

“I was thinking maybe It. The new version.” Virgil really hadn't given it too much thought.

“Perhaps as an alternative, we could watch those stop motion films you enjoy so much. Roman appears to be getting a bit too worked up.” Logan suggested.

Virgil rubbed his arm where Roman had clutched it for the past hour. Roman hadn't hurt him. He squeezed pretty hard when he was startled, but it was clearly not something he realized he was doing. Virgil understood that sometimes Roman's imagination had an effect on him but he didn't expect him to get this wigged out.

“Yeah you're telling me.”

“Yes I am telling you… That is the purpose of a conversation… where did I lose you?” 

“No,” Virgil sighed, “I meant you don't have to tell me cuz I'm already aware.”

“Ah I see. In that case if I suggest Coraline to Patton and Roman, you would be amenable?” He asked tentatively. Virgil smiled lightly, and nodded. Logan dropped a quick kiss to Virgil's lips. They grabbed a bag of chips and went into the living room.

“So shall we proceed to watching Coraline?” Logan in the least smooth genre change ever. 

“What?” Roman demanded. “We're supposed to be watching scary movies, that isn't scary.” 

“Button it Roman, we're watching Coraline.” Patton grinned obviously not meaning it. “Get it? Buttons? With the eyes?” The darkness in Virgil soul grew stronger with every horrible joke he was forced to suffer through. The fact that he may have coughed right after didn't mean he was hiding a laugh at all. 

“But seriously can we watch it? I love that movie.” Patton continued excitedly.

“Why would we watch it when it's a scary movie marathon?” Roman huffed.

“Is this a situation in which I should be honest?” Logan asked looking at Virgil. Virgil nodded.

Patton gasped “You should always be honest with us Logan! You can trust us, plus lying is wrong!” Virgil agreed, but he agreed quietly. They could all be so energetic sometimes. It was exhausting to witness.

“Very well, the change in genre is due to the fact that you seemed extremely distressed by the movie. More so than is typical or desirable. You and Virgil are the only ones who claim to enjoy horror movies. Virgil found the change acceptable and I assumed you would as well based on your reaction to the last movie. However, if you have objections they can be discussed before rejection” Logan narrowed his eyes at Roman. 

“I wasn't scared!” Roman exclaimed.

“Roman there is no need to be ashamed or to lie to us. It was perfectly clear that your feelings of trepidation increased steadily during the course of the film. We simply wish to make you more comfortable. Aside from that there is also the fact that neither Patton or myself enjoyed that movie.”

“Yeah we should watch a different kind and just movie on.” Patton smiled wide, diffusing the tension. 

Roman huffed dramatically. “Fine. Only because you and Patton weren't enjoying it, not because I was scared.” Virgil thought he looked a lot more chilled out though. 

They all went and sat on the couch and watched way too many movie for one night. After Coraline they watched Corpse Bride. Turns out Roman knew the vows by heart. Honestly, Virgil wasn't surprised. Then they continued to Nightmare Before Christmas. Patton dragged Roman off the couch for the last song and started dancing him around the living room. 

The rest of the movies were a bit of a blur. Virgil was getting tired but they were trying to stay up all night. They started watching the movies that only vaguely followed with the Halloween theme. There was Book of Life and Virgil fell asleep at some point during Coco. Probably. If he stayed up any later he didn't remember in the morning.

He woke up early in the morning before the sun came up. He was kinda curled up across Logan's lap and his legs were tangled with Pattons. Roman was lying across Patton’s chest and Logan's head was tilted back against the couch. His glasses were closed on the table. Virgil had a vague memory of having taken them off his face. 

Virgil still felt drowsy. He usually didn't even fall asleep until three AM but whenever they had sleepovers, it was just oddly peaceful? Virgil didn't really know it was just easier to fall asleep around them. He was still exhausted and decided to just close his eyes for a moment. It was like he fell asleep as soon as his eyes shut. 

He didn't know how long it was before he woke up again. He woke up to the feeling of Logan kissing his cheek. Virgil had a series of less than edgy thoughts that if recorded would make everyone think he had gone soft. For the sake of his reputation, they will not be recorded here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just couldn't get this concept outta my head. Haha   
> Thanks for reading!


	31. Mostly Under Control

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha big things coming you guys

Logan had an interesting day.

He woke up that morning after one of the movie nights that had been going nearly nightly for the past week since Halloween. It wasn't practical but Virgil, Patton, and Roman enjoyed them. As usual he was unable to clearly see anything, likely because his glasses had been taken off him after he fell asleep. 

As usual the four of them were curled up with their limbs intertwined in ways that made him wonder how they had fallen asleep like this. It was by no means comfortable. He could feel Virgil's head on his shoulder at what was likely an awkward angle. 

Logan's experiences taught him that Virgil enjoyed being woken with a kiss. Not that he didn't enjoy it himself.

The angle was awkward but Logan managed to press a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth and cheek. There was a soft hum and the person on his shoulder leaned back in to kiss him again. Soft and sweet.

Take note of the use of the word “person”. This was not an unnecessary variance in vocabulary. Such things were not part of Logan's speech pattern. The word “person” here refers to the fact that seconds after this moment Logan discovered that he had not in fact kissed Virgil but rather someone else.

This was evidenced by a shriek and various thuds as the person fell to the floor. “You are not Patton!” Roman’s voice cried. Logan's eyes widened uselessly. He scrambled to find his glasses. 

“What's going on?” Virgil groaned. Logan slid the thick black frames into place. He blinked a few times to let his eyes adjust. Roman was sprawled on the floor looking at him in shock. Virgil was laying on the floor like he had been knocked down there. Patton stood up and helped up Roman and Virgil. 

Patton held Roman's hand “What happened love?” 

It was easily explained and everyone involved understood that it had been an accident. Logan apologized to Roman of the misunderstanding and Virgil was not bothered. Roman still looked at Logan strangely until they parted to go to seperate classes later that morning. Truthfully it stayed on Logan's mind most of the day too, until drama club when he had to focus on his meeting with Mr. Wynne. They had to talk about Logan's budget plans and upcoming shows.

Logan was surprised by the deadline Mr. Wynne proposed to him for the second play of the year. It was less than three weeks away. They hadn't even started work on it.

“It's call King Arthur's Socks.” Mr. Wynne told him. “It's a single act play so you should be able to read through it pretty fast to instruct the club on their jobs. We haven't done something that deals with themes in love and romance in quite a while so this is a good choice. It won't require much work from the crew so they can start working on things for whatever production you want to do for the holidays. Probably something concerning family and innocence and such. After all that's the real meaning of the season.” 

Logan took a moment to marvel at the fact that this man agreed with all of his ideas but still held such… idealistic values. That was hardly the point though. Mr. Wynne was ultimately in charge, regardless of any naive beliefs he might hold. 

“Very well, I will read through the play and then call the rest of the group.” Logan said rising. He went over to a section of seats where no one else was and did a simple search for the play on his phone. Luckily the entire play was was free to read on the first page he tapped. He read through the whole thing in about fifteen minutes. He was unimpressed.

The play was the classic Lancelot and Guinevere story. Guinevere was presumably in a perfectly happy relationship but found affection for a close friend. Not an all together detestable action… Any relationship was valid in Logan's opinion so long as any all all members were aware and consenting to all action taken. 

However if Guinevere preferred Lancelot, she should have gone to Arthur and the three of them could have settled things with maturity. The play very neatly sidestepped the consequences of the action by ending soon after the Guinevere and Lancelot kiss. Some of the basic concepts hit Logan closer to home than he had expected… regardless it was a repulsive way to handle the situation. 

He was sure this level of emotional decision making was appreciated in others but in Logan's opinion, the story was mediocre at best. It lacked originality in the message it conveyed. Any novelty it may have held for him was completely overshadowed by the blatant romanticization of infidelity. Logan never would understand why reasonable people who claimed to enjoy romantic plots enjoyed watching the destruction of a relationship.

It was beyond his comprehension. However Logan knew a large portion of the club would enjoy this play. It would also afford the actors a chance to give an extremely believable performance. After all it would have to be. There was nothing too remarkable about the set. Nothing too remarkable about the clothing or props. This story would rely entirely on their ability to convey the emotions of the characters.

He would have to arrange for auditions for the roles. He was almost certain Roman would receive the role of Lancelot however it was only fair to give others an opportunity to attempt it. It seemed to be as good of a time as any to call together the group. He went to the spot where they usually held meetings and started calmly shouting for their attention. Soon they were all gathered around him and looking expectantly at him.

Logan explained the situation to them all and they went to work choosing a play for the crew to work on for the holiday season while the cast started googling the play. Logan arranged a time with Patton to hold auditions and made sure the actors were aware of this date. 

As usual he had everything under control. He glanced up from his clipboard looking around at the group. Roman was still giving him that strange look but quickly glanced away when Logan looked at him. Logan looked to Patton for explanation but Patton wasn't paying attention to him and Roman but was looking at Virgil with a look that was similar to the one Logan had just received from Roman.

‘Everything mostly under control’ he mentally corrected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so you know the second to last paragraph in this chapter. Credit where credit is the I was inspired by a few seconds of Thor: Ragnorok while writing it.   
> I attempted to get to the level of awkward that is the relationship between Loki Thor and the grandmaster.


	32. I'm A Fool About You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this entire is basically a reference to a play called King Arthur's Socks  
> Here's a link to the full play  
> http://www.one-act-plays.com/comedies/king_arthurs_socks.html  
> It's kinda fun.  
> Also this is the monologue from the play that Roman says during this chapter
> 
> https://www.backstage.com/monologues/floyd-dell/king-arthurs-socks/967/

Roman was in an empty classroom across from the drama room that they used for extra storage. He was alone there after school while the rest of the club was meeting because he needed to practice but his heart just wasn't in it today. He just couldn't seem to put the emotion into the words coming out of his mouth. He of course had gotten the role of Lancelot, and he was overjoyed. He just was having trouble. 

He had memorized his lines days ago but he still held the script in his hands as if staring at the words might spur him into feeling them. He needed something to draw on. Maybe he had an experience that would fuel the emotions Lancelot felt. He racked his brain for something remotely close to loving two women at once and wanting be with both of them.

Roman started saying his lines not putting much thought into them. Pausing at the moments when Gwen responded to Lancelot. He didn't find any situation that applied. He started letting his mind drift as he said the words.

“I'm not a rational human being. I'm a fool. A crazy fool.” He heard himself say.

His thoughts went to the morning a few days before. The morning after the Disney movies. The morning when Logan...

“I love her.” He paused letting imaginary Guinevere respond.

What an odd way to wake up that had been. 

“She loves me.”

What had Logan been thinking? Of course it had been an accident. Roman personally thought it would have been more logical of him to put his glasses on first.

“Then why should I be at this moment aching to kiss you? Tell me that?” 

Roman dully repeated the words of Lancelot. It wasn't like Roman minded that much that he hadn't put his glasses on first.

“It is absolutely insane! It's preposterous! It's contradictory!”

Not that he had enjoyed it, he just wasn't that bothered. Well he did enjoy it because kissing was enjoyable. No reason to lie about that. The fact that it was Logan was beside the point.

“And I'm equally sure that I would not stand here and tell you what a fool I am about you, if that weren't true. Do you think I want to be this way?”

He was surprised that Patton and Virgil hadn't been more freaked out. He was surprised no one had been angry. They didn't really have reason to be angry. 

“It's too ridiculous--I didn't want to tell you. I wanted to go. You made me stay. Well, now you know what a blithering lunatic I am.”

Roman collapsed into a seat near where he had been pacing, reciting lines. Why couldn't he focus on something that would help?

“Roman that was a surprisingly poignant rendition of that particular section of dialogue.” Logan's voice said from the doorway. Roman looked over noticing him there for the first time. How long had he been standing the for? Then the meaning of his words set in.

“Really?” Roman asked, while surprised.

“Yes, excellent work, truly. I actually was sympathetic with Lancelot for a moment. Which is quite a feat considering he's a self indulgent bedswerver.”

Roman almost didn't want to know. “Bedswerver?” He asked anyway.

“Virgil has been encouraging me to try out some insulting slang words. He says it will increase my relatability.” Logan said, as if that’s what he was doing by using eighteenth century slang.

“Logan, what urban dictionary are you reading because I don't even know what that means?” Roman wasn't even sure what was going on.

“Bedswerver, it means adulterer. It came into popular use in the Victorian era.” Oh yes obviously that's what it was how silly of Roman, not know that word.

“Maybe try slang from this century. That's probably what Virgil meant anyway.” Roman said with a laugh.

“Hmm, very well;in that case he is… a self indulgent asshole?” Logan said trying again. Roman had heard Logan curse very infrequently, and usually only when repeating someone or directly quoting something. It was kind of strange.

“That's better.” Roman agreed even though he wasn't sure that it was. “I don't know how I was possibly as good as you're saying, though. I wasn't even paying attention. I was just saying the words.” Roman shrugged not feeling particularly sure of himself.

“Regardless of what you say you were doing, it was doubtlessly one of the most emotionally charged performances I've ever seen from you.” Logan insisted.

Roman saw he was serious. “But I was just thinking. My mind wasn't even on the lines.”

“What were you thinking about?” Logan asked. Roman was surprised; Logan didn't usually care about this stuff. “If we can pinpoint your train of thought, perhaps we can also pinpoint the source of these emotions. That way you can use them to you advantage later.” Logan continued. Well that made more sense.

He was thinking about the play, it did seem weird for Logan to just want to know what Roman had been thinking about. Logan denied it often but he truly cared about the club.

“Also, I must admit I'm curious on what was making you act in this way.” Logan's eyes were super focused on Roman. It wasn't like Roman had his full attention, because Roman could see the wheels still turning in Logan's head. His brain never stopped working long enough to focus on any one thing. 

He was always taking in the environment, people's body language and a million other things Roman was sure. But Roman felt like he had all the attention Logan could possibly give to any one thing. That alone was enough to make Roman feel the need to say something that would interest Logan.

What had he been thinking about? What was it? What was it? Then he remembered. He realized answering Logan honestly would probably imply things. The those things would make this awkward. Logan's curious eyes were staring at him through the dark framed glasses.

“You must swear you won't be angry when I tell you.” Roman declared firmly.

Logan looked puzzled. “I asked a question. If I did not want an answer why would I have asked? No, I will not be angry when you tell me” Logan got a slight smirk.

“I was thinking about the other morning.” Roman said trying to not act as embarrassed as he felt. Logan looked confused.

“Other morning?”

“Yeah my mind just drifted and I was thinking about Monday morning.” Roman said forcing himself to look at Logan even though every instinct he had was telling him to stare at the desk. Logan's eyes widened in understanding. His mouth formed a small “Oh" shape. 

“Ah, I see.” Logan was blinking a lot. Roman wondered if he had just short circuited Logan's brain.

“Yeah"

“I see" Logan repeated. This was awkward as suspected. Making Logan promise not to be mad didn't stop Logan from looking at him like he just grew a third arm that only juggled snow cones, and could do nothing else. Okay perhaps not the best metaphor Roman could have come up with, but in his defense he was feeling very stressed.

“I think I'm going to go.” Roman said standing up and started walking toward the classroom door. Logan probably didn't want to be around him right now.

“No you could stay. Please stay.” Logan said his eyebrows drawing together. He still looked confused.

Roman was going to quote the play. This was reminding him too closely of when Guinevere tells Lance to stay. Lancelot couldn't stand to be near her but not be with her. There was no one here to stop him and he needed something to focus on other than the dull ache in his chest. He was going do it.

“Do you enjoy seeing me suffer?” He said in his most proper Lancelot voice. Roman smiled apologetically, then he walked out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Roman is unsurprisingly a melodramatic mess.  
> Also shits getting real here guys.


	33. Quick Escalation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Expect alot of yelling.

In drama club they would play games. When Mr. Wynne was around they were called “improv games". In total honesty, it was just a bunch of dumb games like “Never Have I Ever,” but there had to be a good excuse to be doing it in drama club. Virgil generally didn't join in. Especially when they were playing actual improv games. He was not an actor.

One game that Virgil tended to play everytime was “Truth.” It had originally been Truth or Dare but Mr. Wynne put a stop to it when a dare lead a student to ask Mr. Wynne to prom. Virgil didn't play in those days because he wasn't gonna be dared to do dumb shit like that. He did play now, even though he wasn't sure he was comfortable with sharing his secrets, not that he had many.

He was sitting in the circle with most of the drama club one day at lunch. They were taking a break from practicing lines and building sets and decided to play “Truth.” Everyone in the circle would have a turn, and they could ask anyone any question they wanted and get a truthful answer.

“Who in the group is the worst actor in your opinion?” one guy asked someone across the circle from him.

The person hesitated awkwardly. “I'm sorry, but its David.” They finally said. The boy who was probably David looked surprised but not offended. He had only joined the club recently and was not the most practiced at… well anything. The game continued around the circle. 

Then the turn came to Remy. It was clear he was ready to cause some mischief. Virgil didn't know him well but that much was obvious. 

“Okay, Virgil.” Remy said. Virgil froze; of course when Remy decided to mess with people it was him. “If you had to pick, who in the circle would you kiss?” Remy grinned. Virgil had been saying for months that this guy didn't like him but did anyone listen? No, Virgil was just overreacting again. 

Virgil glanced up at Logan who was sitting to the side just observing. Unfortunately not actually part of the circle. Logan was looking at him curiously. In fact everyone was. Virgil scanned the faces in the group. He already knew who he was gonna say but it would be less awkward if he pretended it was a hard decision.

Virgil looked down at his lap and shut his eyes tight so he didn't have to see anyone's face when he answered. “Uh... Patton I guess.” He mumbled quietly. Too quietly, the only ones who heard him were the people right next to him. 

“Who?” Remy said again, having not heard him. It felt like he was embarrassing Virgil on purpose. 

“Patton.” He said louder. Everyone started “ooooooo" -ing. Virgil opened his eyes and chanced a look up at Patton. Patton was sputtering.

“Oh pfft haha-" Patton said staring down at his hand in his lap.

“Haha watch out Logan. Patton’s gonna steal your guy.” Remy wiggled his eyebrows at Logan, then at Patton. Virgil looked at Roman and raised an eyebrow, Roman just shrugged.

“He may try.” Logan responded. “But I am inarguably the better kisser.” Virgil watched in disbelief as Logan smirked at all of them. 

Virgil laughed in shock. Comments like that were decidedly not normal for Logan. 

“Whoa whoa I Don't think there's any conclusive proof that this is true.” Alexis interjected. Helpful.

“True enough we would need an impartial party to test.”Logan agreed patiently as if he were dealing with some scientific experiment. Logan looked pointedly at Roman. It had been a long time since Virgil laughed that hard. It had been almost two and a half weeks since that incident, Virgil had almost forgotten. 

Everyone's eyes started drifting following Logan's gaze. Virgil looked at Roman still smiling and was surprised to find Roman was not smiling. 

“May I speak with you?” Roman said angrily to Logan. He stood grabbed Logan's arm and started dragging him away. Oddly though, the proud look on Logan’s face didn't fade if anything he seemed satisfied. Normally Logan could tell when a joke of his wasn't received well. Right now he looked like a plan of his had just come to completion.

They rounded a corner and immediately started screaming.

“YOU SWORE YOU WOULDN'T BE ANGRY BUT YOU ARE!” Virgil heard. He assumed that was Roman, Logan didn't tend to yell much.

“Falsehood I am not angry!” Logan shouted. See, Logan didn't tell he shouted. It was like yelling but more controlled.

“YES YOU ARE! YOU DID THAT JUST TO EMBARRASS ME. AND YOU’RE YELLING!” 

“I am merely matching volume, and no, what I just did was so include get your attention!” 

“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!” Roman screeched in frustration. 

“Should we tell them that everyone can hear them?” Virgil asked Patton.

“What am I talking about?! YOU HAVE BEEN AVOIDING ME AND IGNORING MY PRESENCE WHEN YOU CAN'T AVOID ME. YOU SHOULDN'T JUST LEAVE AFTER YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT THEN STOP ALL COMMUNICATION. I HAD TO GET YOU TO NOTICE ME!” Okay now Logan was yelling.

“Probably.” Patton answered. They started standing up everyone in the club was listening with interest.

“YOUR THE ONE WHO ‘STOPPED ALL COMMUNICATION,’” you could practically hear the air quotes. “THAT'S WHY I DECIDED TO LEAVE IF YOU RECALL! YOU JUST FELL AWKWARDLY SILENT! WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO THINK?” 

“OH I'M NOT SURE! PERHAPS THAT I WAS TAKING A MOMENT TO PROCESS THE INFORMATION YOU HAD GIVEN ME?” Logan had finally truly learned how to use sarcasm, Virgil couldn't be prouder. He and Patton rounded the corner.

“What information?” Patton asked. Virgil had been wondering the same, honestly. 

“NOTHING.” “NOTHING.” They snapped in unison. 

“Jeez.” Virgil grimaced. “We just came to tell you guys that every person in the entire club can hear every word you've said.” Honestly Virgil didn't know what the big deal was, there was no way for anyone out there to understand what Logan had been referencing.

Roman's eyes widened. “Shit, really?” 

“Yes I know.” Logan said factually at the same time. “What is your point?” Virgil huffed. Of course Logan knew that everyone could hear them. The question was why didn't he care? Logan didn't usually care about social convention or anything, but he also didn't usually start yelling where large groups of people could hear. He didn't usually start yelling at all.

Roman turned his gaze back to Logan and glared intensely. “You weren't mad?” He said angrily but there was an embarrassed undertone.

“No.” Logan stated firmly. “Of all the things I have felt since then, anger toward you is not one of them...” Logan's voice wavered as if he were second guessing himself. Virgil had never heard him second guess himself before. 

“Okay!” Roman shouted like he was still mad and stormed out of the theatre to god knows where, lunch wasn't even over yet. 

“What was that about?” Virgil asked turning to Logan. 

“A mild disagreement that originated in a discussion of acting methods.” Logan said simply. That was mild? “Do not worry, that is the reaction I expected.” 

Jesus what was Logan playing at?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Logan knows how-to get under Roman's skin haha


	34. Turn It Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that I've slowed down so much getting out chapters. Life had gotten to me haha.
> 
> I'm just trying to finish this fic at this point cuz I'm not sure that much of anyone us still following this but I have gone too far at this point.

Logan had regrets. This was a rare occurrence for him because most of his actions were perfectly planned. There wasn't often times when he made a choice without thoroughly thinking through the possible consequences. Logan loathes to admit it, but he had made a miscalculation.

The miscalculation, in his defense, was due to a highly unpredictable variable. Achieving a desirable outcome was extremely improbable. The variable's name was Roman. 

He hadn't exactly realized the extent of the consequences of telling Roman what he had. He had essentially said he liked Roman romantically during their fight backstage. Not in so many words but with Roman one was always dealing in sentimental double meanings. The most concerning part was that it hadn't been untrue. At the time he hadn't been focused on the consequences, he had merely been hoping Roman would resume talking to him.

However, this admission had left Roman unnervingly silent whenever Logan was around. This was, of course, unacceptable. Virgil believed they were still fighting and Logan wasn't certain he was wrong. 

Logan couldn't allow anything to happen between him and Roman because Virgil and Patton would be hurt. He would not risk that. He would not risk losing his relationship with Virgil either. He was certain he would never understand the full definition of the word but… he loved Virgil. He had not said as much out loud yet but it was certainly true. Saying anything otherwise would be a falsehood.

He also cared for Roman more than one should typically care for a friend. That fact had to change. He must force his emotions for Roman back to a manageable, platonic level. It was the most logical solution. He wished there was some way to pinpoint the cause for romantic feelings. If that were the case he would be able to stop whatever was causing… this. 

Logan, being a natural problem solver, should have no problem at all managing to do that anyway. He would handle it and just pretend nothing had happened. Then he would have to hope Roman did the same. 

So Logan sat himself down at his desk. It had been horribly neglected for the past few months and there was a layer of dust covering the top. Perhaps he had been doing homework in the theatre and at Patton’s house too often. The thin layer of dust reminded Logan that he was no longer the same as he had been when he first met Patton. When he first met Patton, there was no chance of even a day passing when Logan didn't sit at his desk for at least a short study session. Now he returned and sat down at his desk to do some serious thinking.

He allowed himself to dwell on everything he wanted with Roman. His plan was to gather all of those emotions and mentally envision them as a cube of unfettered emotion then he would simply put it in the back of his mind palace and never return. 

He sat for twenty minutes staring at the top of his desk trying to focus on Roman. It didn't work. He kept finding Virgil and Patton in the mix. They were in all his memories of Roman and when Logan imagined his future, he had a hard time imagining one that didn't include all three of them.

The three of them were so permanently tied together in his mind he couldn't separate those emotions. It was odd though. Virgil and Roman were people he very clearly viewed romantically and yet that affecting was intertwined with his platonic affection for Patton. 

Well, his mostly platonic affection that was. Nearly platonic affection... In Logan's defense he was unfortunately only human and Patton was… adorable to say the least. But it was a platonic observation only. Patton was also rather quick witted though Logan would never admit it. Another platonic observation. 

Logan sighed, denial was not going to help him rid himself of excessive feeling. If he wanted to properly handle this he had to be honest with himself. Patton was wonderful in a way no one else was. Patton was his first friend in high school and his only friend for a time. It only made sense to want all these things with Patton too.

He admired all of them greatly and they were all attractive I'm their own ways. Roman was boisterous and driven. Virgil was full of dry humor and undyingly practical. Patton witty and loyal beyond belief. Logan wasn't sure of how to handle these matters.

There was one idea...

For a moment the exhilaration of solving a problem overtook him. The pleasant warmth he got from eventual understanding. Then he processed the fact that this was no simple riddle he had solved. He had not merely worked out a math problem. This was a real situation with his friends. A situation that the only pleasant solution that existed simply wasn't sensible.

It was, of course, the idea they had suggested to Patton all that time ago: polyamory. It wasn't sensible. Granted at the time they had been referring to who ever Patton had liked at the time. Logan was not proud of how long he remained completely incognizant of the full scale of his own emotions. He had never claimed he was an expert in these fields. How did one go about initiating this sort of thing? 

It would take even longer to confirm that everyone truly did like everyone, and by the time he proved that it was quite possible the situation would change. He did a mental tally. That was six separate relationships he had to analyze. Not to mention that every single one of them would have to be reciprocated. 

Perhaps… this was not a situation he could resolve through sheer thought. Dare he say it he may have to… express himself. He shuddered at the thought. It was also entirely possible that it couldn't be resolved. In which case Logan would continue his life feeling things that he couldn't express. Logan grimace, he did not wish to dwell on such thoughts any further. They were unpleasant and surprisingly painful. If he could just talk with one of the three of them, perhaps it would clear his mind. Although he was tired, he wanted to talk to one of them for a while. He picked up the phone and dialed the person who would be least likely to make him more confused. 

“Hello?” Patton's voice groaned through the phone. He sounded tired. Logan glanced at the clock. It read one o’clock AM. No wonder Patton was tired. Odd. Logan usually didn't stay up this late without being in the others’ presence. It was obvious that he had woken Patton from his rest. He had once again acted without thought and hadn't even checked the time. Logan felt guilty for having woken Patton.

“Greetings Patton.” Logan said “I apologize, I will simply talk to you in the morning. It is apparent that you were sleeping.” Logan would just deal with himself. 

“You bed I was, but now I'm awake.” Logan rolled his eyes at the pun, “What do you need? Why are you even awake Lo?” Patton asked.

“I have been thinking.” Logan said simply. He went and sat on his bed. 

“What about?” Patton asked quietly. 

“You,” Logan said. He heard the steady breathing on the other end of the phone stop, which was deeply concerning from a medical standpoint until it picked back up a second later “and Virgil and Roman.” He continued honestly. 

“Did that stop you from sleeping?” Patton asked after a moment. 

“Well I cannot sleep and think at the same time, so yes.” Logan felt a light smile tug at his mouth. He leaned back, laying down across his bed. Patton laughed a little.

“You still didn't say what you needed to talk to me about.” Patton reminded him sleepily.

“I never said there was a reason.” He had just wanted to talk to Patton. Patton hummed in response. 

“Well you have to go to bed at some point, Lo. If you want to stay awake in school, then you can't sleep this up. You can't stay up this late.” Patton yawned. Logan laughed lightly. Even when this exhausted, he was making puns. 

“Perhaps we could converse for one more minute?” Logan said although his eyes were heavy and he knew that Patton was right. 

“If we do then I'll have to call the cops on you.” Patton said. Logan wasn't sure what Patton was talking about now. His brain was too muddled with drowsiness.

“Why?” Logan asked curiously fighting his eyes wanting to drift closed.

“Because you're resisting arrest.” Patton giggled at his own joke that Logan may have possibly found amusing, and made a noise that resemble laughter that was absolutely not laughter. Puns were terrible and not worth laughing at.

“Very well goodnight Patton.” Logan said softly.

“Mmm night, Lo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if y'all are out there I want you to know there is probably about eight chapters left. I'm not Positive but that's roughly the amount haha.


	35. In-VEST-ed in Each Other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some more logicality fluff!  
> *pun warning*

“Why is what I'm currently wearing insufficient?” Logan asked as Patton handed him a bow tie and a vest. 

“It's not, but Mr. Wynne said that this party was going to be formal.” Patton said trying to reach up and pop up the collar of Logan's shirt. Logan took a step back just out of Patton’s reach. 

“I always dress formally. Especially in comparison with the rest of our… peers. I already elected to wear a long sleeve button up instead today.” Logan said. Patton signed holding up a couple other tie options. Logan shook his head and Patton tossed them in a pile. He had seven ties because it's all his grandma gave him for his birthday and Christmas since he started high school. 

“Yeah but you gotta look special! This is the first party you and Virgil will ever go to together! Plus this one Suits you.” Patton pleaded.

“I will not change my tie. I have done enough.” Logan said adamantly. 

Patton pouted “Fine you can keep your tie but you have to wear this vest.” Patton held out dark purple vest to Logan. Logan took a step back holding up his hands

“C'mon Lo, you'll look your Vest! ” Patton said following him. Patton tried to reached around and put the vest on his shoulders hoping Logan would put his arms in. Logan took another step back and Patton tried to step with him. Or tied to step with him, but Patton’s foot caught something and he tripped forward into Logan and accidentally knocked Logan over. Then they were falling to the floor. 

Logan grunted with either surprise or pain. Probably both. Patton was surprised it didn't hurt much but then he realized he fell onto Logan. His face was inches from Logan's. Patton rolled away and let Logan up but Patton was still tangled in whatever he tripped on. He looked at his feet and discovered it was the pile of ties. Logan sat up and made a small squeak of pain. 

“I'm sorry!” Patton said blushing. He had actually knocked Logan over! He wanted explain himself but Logan's phone started ringing. Logan took a breath and pulled out his phone.

He answered “Hello?.... No Patton can't come to the phone, he's a little tied up at the moment.” Patton grinned at the pun. Logan had a look on his face like he was going to deny having made the joke.

“Why does it matter what colors we're wearing? Oh I see. I'm wearing black and,” he reached behind him to grab the vest and look at it, “dark purple. Patton will be wearing light blue and grey. No light Gray. Yes. You will arrive at five, correct? Good. Goodbye.” Logan hung up. 

“How did you know those were the colors I'm wearing?” Patton wasn't even dressed yet how did Logan know? 

“Oh please it was obvious. The only tie you didn't throw on the floor was that light grey one in the closet. In fact you didn't even offer it as an option, showing it to be the one you intended for yourself. The light blue was an educated guess since it's your favorite color. I'm glad I was correct or I'm afraid you would have had to make a new outfit.” 

“I mean you were right, it was blue but it wasn't light blue, it was this shirt.” Patton pointed to the shirt before going back to untangling himself. 

“That is light blue.” Logan tightened his tie.

“No it's more of an electric blue. Don't worry I'll call Roman back and tell him.” 

“Electric blue? It merely has a slightly higher green content. What about it is powered by electricity?” 

“No the color is just called electric. But when I wear it it does make sparks fly.” Patton grinned. He really did think he looked nice in that shirt and the joke was right there.

“Yes, well we should really be getting dressed now,” Logan cleared his throat and turned away very quickly and rushed into the bathroom, shutting the door. He came back out after a moment.

“I don't need to get dressed and I left the vest,” Logan frowned, Patton noticed his face was red.   
“Nice rhyme,” Patton smiled grabbing his shirt out of the closet and heading to the bathroom himself. Technically he didn't have to go to the bathroom since he only had to change his shirt. He didn't want to change in front of Logan though. That would be embarrassing. 

He took off his shirt and pulled on the new one buttoning it up. He took a moment to brush his teeth then tied on his bow tie, which he had been practicing for a week. Then ran a brush through his hair. It helped nothing there was still that one little tuft of hair that never laid down.

He came back into his room and Logan was sitting on his bed. Logan looked at him with wide eyes. Patton thought maybe he had spilled toothpaste on himself and looked down. Nothing, which was good since he didn't have anything else to wear. 

Logan stood up, still looking at him. Logan opened his mouth like he was trying to think of something to say. 

“Lo?” Patton nervously shuffled under his gaze.

“Ah… You look… good.” Logan cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. Patton smiled, Logan had said it factually like there was no arguing the point. He really thought Patton looked nice. Logan had put on the vest and buttoned it up. He looked… beautiful. Was that a word to use talking about a boy? Handsome didn't quite fit honestly. Roman was handsome, Logan was beautiful. The kind of undeniable beauty that it didn't matter if you were gay, straight, or anything else because he wasn't hot, he was nice to look at.

Patton felt his face warm up even more. “You do too.” He couldn't wait for Roman to show up. Then Patton wouldn't have to keep finding things to look at other than Logan. Then they could go to the Holiday party. Roman had been begging Mr. Wynne to let the drama club have one since Thanksgiving. Mr. Wynne had said no until Logan had said it was a good idea. 

Patton wasn't sure why he had thought so; parties weren't generally Logan's thing. Maybe he had been trying to make up for that fight he and Roman got into. If that was the reason, it worked. It had been awkward for a while but now everything was back to normal. If normal was what you could call their friendship.


	36. Roman isn't as Subtle as He Thinks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now for some flippin prinxiety because I can and I did

“Nooooo…” Virgil whined as Roman tried to tug him off the bed. They were in Roman's room and they were supposed to be getting ready for the party but Virgil had dozed off while Roman showered and now wouldn't move. 

“Come on Jason Toddler!” Roman tugged on his arm one last time.

“Mmm no, too sleepy. Fuck off” Virgil murmured burying his face in Roman's pillow. Okay that was slightly cute but hardly an excuse. Roman had been planning this for weeks. There would be food and music and decorations and Roman had to be there. They were having it in the theatre and the backstage area. It was going to be brilliant. 

Roman tried being nice. “Please? I really wanna go!” 

“No shit, you wanna go to a party?” Virgil said sarcastically but sitting up anyway.

“Okay, so I just got a text from Patton saying that Logan was wrong, so the colors are electric blue, black, dark purple, silver.” 

“Wait we all have to match?” Virgil blinked blearily. 

“Yes why wouldn't we?” Roman asked.

“I don't know, I just thought only couples have have to match.”

“Oh I mean…” Roman didn't have an answer.

“Hey I don't know much about this stuff.” Virgil said holding up his hands

“I mean I was going to wear this black shirt and I had a silver sash to go with it. I had all these plans… I had these earrings for you...” Roman trailed off. “Technically you're right.” 

“My ears aren't pierced.”

“They were clip-ons” Roman moped.

“Well I mean you could still wear that outfit. No one's stopping you. We can all match if you want us too.” Virgil awkwardly patted Roman's shoulder. 

“Really? Great!” Roman rushing over to the closet with Virgil scoffing at him. “I have a shirt that I think will fit you. You're always wearing that hoodie though so I'm not sure.” 

“It's a hoodie not an invisibility cloak. You can still see my basic form through it.” Virgil rolled his eyes.

“Not enough!” Roman exclaimed. “To be able to see if this would fit.” he added quickly. Virgil rolled his eyes again. 

Virgil grabbed the hem of his hoodie and tugged it over his head. His shirt rode up a little showing off his stomach. As Virgil dropped his arms his shirt slid down to again. Not that Roman noticed this happening.

“Which shirt?” Virgil asked. Roman blinked a couple times trying to form coherent thoughts. 

“Um This one.” Roman pulled it out of his closet. He looked between Virgil and the shirt a few times. “Yes this should fit.” Roman handed Virgil the shirt.

“You could have just checked the size.” Virgil pointed out, doing just that. 

“Yes but then I wouldn't have had an excuse to look at you.” Roman said without thinking and instantly regretted it. Damn his naturally flirtatious nature for betraying his feelings… whatever they might be. 

“Pfft that line was weak. I'm not Patton; you're gonna have to try harder if you want to make me blush.” Virgil quipped even though his face seemed pretty clearly flushed. “Anyway, how long do we have til we gotta leave?” 

“About forty-five minutes, we should really get dressed.” Roman said. Roman tugged off his shirt and pulled out the shirt he was wearing that evening. He turned back toward Virgil as he swung it around his shoulders, slipped it one and started buttoning it up. He glanced at Virgil.   
Virgil was suddenly paler than usual. He was just staring at Roman and seemed really… freaked out. Roman paused in his buttoning. 

“You okay?” He asked gently. 

Virgil nodded furiously. “Yep yep I'm.. Great. Bathroom where? I mean where's the Bathroom?” Virgil very pointedly looked away.

“Actually I was gonna go do my hair so you can change in here.” Roman said realizing he probably shouldn't have taken off his shirt in front of Virgil who was very clearly uncomfortable with it. 

Roman left the room closing the door behind him and heading to the bathroom. His hair took only a couple minutes but his makeup took longer. He was doing it up more than usual tonight. It felt like a special occasion. 

When he exited the bathroom a little bit later his bedroom door was open again. He entered the room trying for a confident zest, even if he wasn't quite feeling it. He stopped short when he saw Virgil. The purple shirt was tight across his chest and tucked into his black jeans. The cuffs were up to his elbows revealing expanses of skin on His arms that weren't usually visible. His bangs were fanned out artfully covering one of his eyes. His eyes. The purple of his shirt made his eyes the color of caramel and he had the usual thick black rings of eyeshadow underneath. 

It was one of the more… unique parts of his style but it truly did suit him. He had been doing it since freshman year and it should look weird. Virgil had no right to be able to pull of such a weird style but he did. Roman had, of course, seen Virgil in the morning before he put on the eye shadow but never for more than a few minutes after he woke up.

He noticed one more thing that was out of the ordinary about Virgil's look tonight. It took Roman a moment to figure out what was different but then he realized.

“I've never seen you wear nail polish before.” Roman commented from his place in the doorway. 

“Ah yeah, I got bored while you were in the bathroom and it was right there of the night stand and… sorry. I probably should have asked.” Virgil dropped his gaze to the floor. That was truly unfair of him to do. It deprived the world of being able to see his eyes, which was just cruel. Roman wasn't sure what was causing all these thoughts today.

“No, it's fine, it looks fabulous.” Roman smirked. “Did you want to try the earrings?” 

“I’m not sure about that. Do you think it would be too much?” Virgil asked carefully.

“Definitely not! It's not wrong to stand out a little, sometimes!” Roman grinned. 

Virgil raised an eyebrow at that. “Sometimes? Oh yeah. You would know all about only standing out occasionally. ” He said with one of those almost-smiles. Roman chose to ignore what he was implying.

“You could try them then. If you don't like it, you can just take them off.” Roman offered. Virgil nodded but seemed very unsure. Roman went and grabbed the earrings and handed them to Virgil. Virgil clipped them on and started looking for a mirror. Roman quickly grabbed one of his makeup mirrors and handed it to Virgil. 

Roman thought they added just the right touch but in the end it was Virgil's decision. He wouldn't offer his opinion unless Virgil asked for it, which was painful because he was sure his opinion would convince Virgil. He would not pressure… no matter how much he wanted to. 

Virgil scanned his reflection a moment seeming undecided 

“Nope nope, too much, not doing it, sorry,” Virgil pulled off the earrings. He put the mirror And earring on the bedside table and walked across the room like he was trying to distance himself from his reflection. Well that was a bust. Roman slumped slightly. He thought he had chosen something Virgil would like they weren't even as sparkly as he could have done.

“Fuck it, fuck everything just for tonight.” Virgil stomped back to the nightstand and put them back on. Roman stared at him a moment mouth open. It full honesty he hadn't expect Virgil to ever go for it.

“Take a picture, drama queen. It lasts longer,” Virgil snapped. Okay so obviously Virgil was feeling a little too self conscious to be stared at right now. Shame. 

“I don't know what you mean. I was admiring the wall over there, you just happened to be blocking it.” Roman said and crossed the room to slide the silvery sash over his head. He felt dashing, like he was ready to save a damsel or something. He offered his arm to Virgil with an eyebrow cocked up.

“Ready to go sunshine?” Roman smirked lightly. Virgil scoffed and rolled his eyes. Then Roman's heart just about stopped when Virgil actually linked arms with him. Virgil raised his eyebrow, a challenge. Roman squared his shoulders and escorted Virgil out to the car opening the door for him sarcastically. 

They drove and picked up Patton and Logan for the party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just More party prep but I couldn't leave out how much of a thirsty bastard Roman is.   
> Next time they'll actually go to the party and more shenanigans will ensue.


	37. A Grand Gesture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You remember that time that Roman killed a dragon witch to save someone as a grand gesture of his affection?  
> ... yeah okay this isn't that, because dragon witches don't exist in this story's universe  
> But how about a different kind of saving?

As they entered the theater, Virgil saw that most of the party was already set up and a few people had already arrived. There was twinkle lights everywhere and Christmas music playing and it was actually… really nice. The stage was set up as a dance floor. Virgil and the others meandered backstage where there was tables loaded with bags of chips, cookies, bottles of soda, and various pans of food that people brought. 

Soon most of the drama club had arrived and Patton and Roman started walking around talking to people. Mr. Wynne was walking around on patrol making sure no kids were trying to sneak off to the sound booth to, as Logan would put it, “copulate”. That apparently didn't stop the kids from trying though.

Virgil stood near the side of the room looking on, in horror, at the things he was seeing. Virgil was watching practical strangers dancing, or people who met literally two months ago saying they were in love. Like sure it was possible but c'mon. Not to mention someone had thought that putting mistletoe up in the doorway to get backstage was a good idea. It was only increasing all the weird tension. It's like everyone wanted to pair off just because it's the holidays. 

Virgil stood in the back room near the wall and watched people. He bitterly realized that he was currently the actual definition of a wallflower. What was he supposed to do though? Go dance with Patton? Please, Virgil didn't know how to dance. Plus Patton was probably with Roman. Virgil didn't know where Logan had gone.

So Virgil just leaned against the wall and accepted his position as official wallflower. He felt stupid for bothering to dress up. He had wondered if people would stare at him for the earrings. Why would people stare at him anyway? Virgil huffed and turned his thoughts toward the people in the room with him. He looked around and realized that he… didn't recognize some of the people around him. 

Other kids must have been sneaking in. Never a dull moment in this club. Virgil caught sight of Logan walking around ushering people who didn't belong out of the theater, and helping Mr. Wynne enforce the rules. Logan looked satisfied with his new job. Virgil smiled lightly watching him. At least he found a way to enjoy the party. Virgil was just in a weird mood. 

This whole night had been a bad idea. Especially after what had happened at Roman's house. Virgil realized for about the billionth time that Roman was attractive and ignored that fact for the billionth time. It didn't help the pool of emotion that had been building in Virgil's chest. 

The pool of feelings that grew every time Patton got that goofy smile on his face or when one of Logan's plans came through. He felt it tonight when getting ready with Ro, and Virgil was so not ready to figure out what the hell it all meant. It was all too much.

Now though, he was at the party. He wouldn't have actually minded dancing if Patton or Roman had asked him but he wasn't going to force his company on them. He shrugged and decided to go watch people dance. He wasn't going to be seen playing on his phone, that would just be a new level of sad so he might as well have something to look at. It was fine really, they would all hang out after ward. 

Virgil went out and sat in the theatre seats in front of the stage where people were dancing. He sat there for a few minutes watching the action and listening to the terrible music. He spotted Patton dancing, if not well then happily, all by himself on stage. He wondered briefly where Roman was. Maybe the bathroom or something.

Virgil was just about ready to give in and just pull out his phone when someone walked up to him. It was a boy with brown hair that Virgil didn't recognize. 

He was wearing a black bowler hat and a yellow and black coat. Most embarrassingly the boy topped it off with bright yellow gloves that looked like he just got finished doing some dishes. Virgil resisted the urge to cringe from second hand embarrassment although he figured the boy pulled off the outfit as well as anybody could.

“Would you like to dance?” The boy asked offering a gloved hand to Virgil. The boy smiled charmingly at him, but… something about him just didn't feel right. First of all he wasn't in the drama club, so he shouldn't be here. Also he had a kind of charisma where Virgil wanted to trust him but it felt slightly off. Like the boy was waiting to pull the rug out from under you.

“Uh no, thanks…” Virgil said trying to not be rude even though this guy gave him the creeps. The boy raised his eyebrow probably attempting flirtatious.

“Oh? Why not?” He said stepping a bit closer.

“I have a boyfriend.” Virgil said sitting up straighter in his seat. Why wasn't this guy leaving? Virgil had already said no. Every second dragged on, this is why Virgil didn't talk to strangers.

“He couldn't be as good a dancer as I. And it's just a dance, he doesn't have to know…” The boy smiled mischievously. Ew. The answer was no. Virgil wanted to walk away but the guy was kinda in the way and Virgil didn't want to make a scene so he stayed seated. Then Roman happened.

“Hi your name is Declan, right? I’m Roman.” Roman slid in and sat on Virgil's lap with his legs swung over the armrest. “Hey babe.” He kissed Virgil's cheek quickly and laid an arm over Virgil's shoulders. Virgil reeled for a moment before realizing what was happening. Roman was saving him from creeper by pretending to be his boyfriend. 

“Declan?” The boy said with a smirk “No. I'm afraid you heard wrong. Who are you by the way?” He directed the question at Roman. Smooth subject change. 

“Funny, I'm almost certain that's what our math teacher has been calling you for the past four months. But I suppose you would know better than I,” Roman said with a smile “Now what did I miss?” 

“We were just discussing the merits of homework in the education system.” The boy said giving Virgil a wink as if they were keeping a secret together, as if Roman couldn't see him “He seems to be occupied though and I'd hate to be in the middle of that. ” He eyed Roman with distaste and turned to walk away. Until he was stopped by Mr. Wynne. 

“This party is only for students who are part of the drama club. I'm afraid you'll have to leave. My apologies.” Mr. Wynne said unapologetically and escorted him out. 

As they were left alone Virgil became acutely aware of the fact that Roman was still in his lap. “So you uhh... knew him?” Virgil asked hoping to stop an awkward silence before it could start.

“Yeah, he's in my math class, but I've heard he's a real creep.” Roman said. “This was okay right?”

“Yeah sure." Virgil said. It was honestly more than okay because Virgil had no idea how to get rid of freaky bowler hat kids and didn't want to figure it out tonight. “We weren't talking about the education system. I don't know why he said that.” 

“I know, I was walking by and heard you say no and you looked uncomfortable. I thought somebody should step in.” Roman looked proud of himself. Virgil felt something warm in his chest.

Then Logan walked up to them. “I came to see if you know where Mr. Wynne is. I have important information for him.” Logan said not even blinking at Roman's current position in Virgil's lap. Roman scrambled up to stand anyway.

Virgil chuckled, Logan probably was having a hard time just relaxing during the party. “Walked a kid who wasn't in drama to the door. Hey, why are there kids who aren't in drama?” Virgil asked.

“Word got out that there would be alcohol, it drew somewhat of a crowd. In fact I have reason to believe the rumors are true which is what I need to inform Mr. Wynne about. I believe someone here has either poured alcohol into the drinks of or intends to at some point.” Logan pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in exasperation. 

“Seriously, someone wants to spike the drinks? That so cliche!” Roman huffed. Oh yeah that's definitely the biggest problem with spiking the drinks, the cliche.

“Indeed. I will go inform Mr. Wynne. Would you both keep an eye out for someone doing this?” Logan asked. They both agreed. Logan bent over and placed a quick, chaste kiss on Virgil mouth. Virgil sighed softly but Logan pulled away and walked away to follow Mr. Wynne. Virgil realized he was smiling and forced himself to stop. He scolded himself for looking so dopey. He was angst. He was darkness. He was edgy.

He felt even more embarrassed when he realized. Roman was watching him. He expected a smirk and a couple jokes at his expense instead Roman's face had a genuine smile.

Roman was looking at him with a knowing expression. He knew he couldn't hide how mushy he felt, Roman wouldn't believe him. Not that he would deny it, Virgil wasn't into lying. Logan was one of his best friends and Virgil figured he could live pretty happily with Logan. 

He, Roman, Logan, and Patton would go to the same college. They would all get a dorm together. His mind continued to drift of its own accord. It would be easier then because they wouldn't have to drive to stay the night at each other's houses, and they would already be together. Then after college they could get an apartment…

That's when he snapped out of it. Obviously they wouldn't all get an apartment together. He and Logan would, then maybe Roman and Patton could get one close by. Virgil didn't like the idea of them living far away.

Could they get an apartment together?

Virgil usually tried not to daydream about the future. He preferred to aim low and avoid disappointment. He just surprisingly didn't expect it to go badly and it was feeling hard to to be pessimistic about the situation. Which was disturbingly out of character for him.

“Do you wanna talk about something Virge?” Roman said peering at him.

“Y-yes… probably… later though…” Virgil surprised himself. Roman's looked at him seeming mildly shocked. 

“Okay we will.” Roman said reassuringly. “Well I'm going to find Patton. I want to dance! Would you care to come along?” Roman asked with a flourish of his hands. Virgil was tempted for a moment but shook his head. He had to much to think about. Roman shrugged and turned to walk away.

“I, uh, Roman!” Virgil said before he could talk himself out of it. Roman turned back to look at him. “Uh erm… thanks.” Virgil looked away from Roman's eyes.

“What?” 

“Thanks for, ya know, saving me before. With the guy” Virgil muttered looking down and his feet.

Roman laughed softly, not in a mean way. “I always intend to, Sunshine.” Virgil’s glanced up to look at Roman, but he was already walking away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though I wasn't very subtle I just thought explicitly state that Deceit made a short appearance here, and I called him Declan.  
> That seems to be a generally accepted name for him   
> Do guys know any cool names for him? (I obviously can't change it now but I'm curious because the meaning for this name does Not fit at all)


	38. Electric Slide?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ladies, gents, and all other classy people I'm proud to announce that the end is in sight four chapters left after this one!

Logan had plans for the party. The party itself had been one of his ideas. He hadn't expected to have anything of interest to do. However it was something Roman enjoyed and Logan had to do something to make certain that Roman was aware that there was no more contention left from the fight on Logan’s. 

So when Roman mentioned wanting to have a holiday party, Logan used his pull with Mr. Wynne. He told Mr. Wynne he absolutely wanted a party. It had worked unsurprisingly and Roman seemed pleased. 

The next phase of his plan was fairly simple. Approach each of them and request to converse with them. Then once they had all gathered he would merely ask them if they wished to engage in a polyamorous relationship. If they required elaboration Logan had cards in his pocket that had talking points, statistics, and a few slang words. They of course would comprehend how mutually rewarding it would be for all of them and hopefully agree. It should have proved quite simple.

At least that had been the plan.

Logan was ashamed to admit that his apprehension had momentarily gotten the better of him. He thought he had been prepared earlier when he approached Virgil and Roman in front of the stage. He was going to talk to them. However, when he found himself with their eyes on him, his heart started beating quickly. He backed down. 

It hadn't been part of the plan, but when as they looked at him expectantly he told them he was looking for Mr. Wynne. Then he left after they told him where to go. As soon as Logan rounded a corner where he couldn't be seen, he stopped with a sigh and cleaned his glasses. 

He didn't notice Mr. Wynne looking at him until he spoke “Boy trouble?” The man asked. ”Been there. Maybe I can give you some advice” Mr. Wynne chuckled. Logan thought for a moment. Mr. Wynne he always been kind to him and he couldn't imagine the teacher going out and telling his friend's everything before he got a chance to. 

“That would be appreciated but to put it more accurately, it is boys trouble, in the plural form.”. Logan said giving in. He needed some guidance because he had no idea how to carry on from this point. How was he to ask them out if he couldn't remain composed enough?

“Ah plural. I think I see what you mean. I haven’t been there personally but I'll do my best.” Mr. Wynne said sincerely. “What seems to be the problem?” 

Logan explain the situation with Patton, Roman, Virgil, and his own nervousness. At the end of his explanation Mr. Wynne said “Yeah I figured”

“What?” Logan asked blinking. “How could you have predicted that any of us would have these emotions?” Logan asked feeling curious but also confused. 

“Logan the only people in this whole school who didn't know it yet was the four of you.” Mr. Wynne laughed good naturedly. 

“That's all well and good but what can I do now?” Logan said, it seemed as if he was defeated before he even began trying. 

“Well how did you get Virgil?” Mr. Wynne said rubbing the back of his head. 

“I read the magazine entitled Cosmo and approached Roman for advice.” Logan said remembering.

“Well... based on your past success what would you think is the most logical course of action?” Now he was speaking in terms Logan understood. Logan thought for a moment. 

“I should read more Cosmo’s.” Logan said glad to finally have a clearly defined plan. 

“No, don't. I'm not sure I'll ever respect you as I used to if you continue reading those. I meant that you should go talk to Roman again. Get his advice. After all, who would know how to ask him out better than himself? Go now before I get anymore emotionally involved in your lives.” Mr. Wynne said with a chuckle. Logan blinked for a second.

Getting advice from Roman was not an altogether bad idea. “Thank you.” He said then walked back into the main room.

He scanned the room looking for Roman. He was dancing. Which meant Logan would have to go to the middle of the mess of students to get Roman's attention. He took a deep breath and straightened his tie then headed on stage. When he got there he began making his way carefully into the crowd attempting not to jostle too many people.

He cleared his throat. “Roman may I speak with you?” Logan said as he came closer. The music was a fast song that Logan didn’t recognize.

“Only if you plan on dancing with me to do it, Teach,” Roman laughed, “Or we can talk later.” Not an altogether ridiculous request after all Logan was the one approaching Roman. However, Logan needed to talk him now. Very well, he supposed, what must be done must be done. If the way to gain Roman's attention was to dance, then Logan could do that. Although he was admittedly not in his element with this kind of dancing. They had taught a small amount of slow dancing in gym class, but nothing he could use here. Was the electric slide inappropriate for this situation? 

Logan glanced around and noticed that most people were doing one of two things. Some were standing mostly still, but bouncing in time with their music. While others were moving in ways that Logan was certain he could not manage to reproduce nor did he want to attempt in public. He opted to attempt the first option.

Roman seemed surprised but said nothing and only smirked. “Are you enjoying the party?” Logan asked in an attempt at small talk.

“I love it!” Roman said doing a sudden spin. “But you hate it! Why did you agree to a party?” Roman said with raised eyebrow.

“Why do you assume I'm not enjoying myself?” Logan asked. Of course he wasn't but he was much closer to enjoying himself while being around Roman enjoying himself. Logan was certain that said more about himself than the party.

“You're Logan. You don't do loud places. You do quiet music on in the background while you study. So what gives?” Roman rolled his eyes.

“You wanted a party.” Logan said simply “So, I made one happen.” The music changed suddenly. It was slower, something Logan would be able to slow dance to. He glanced over and saw Alexis setting down the phone that controlled the music. She sent Logan a quick wink before walking away. Was the entire drama club invested in his love life?

It was just as well, at least this way he knew how to dance without making a fool of himself. He offered a hand to Roman. Roman laughed and shrugged before stepping closer and taking Logan's hand. Logan placed a hand on Roman's waist. He began guiding them in slow regular movements across the floor. Luckily, Roman didn't seem to mind Logan leading seeing as he didn't know how to dance without leading. 

“You hate parties.” Roman said after a moment pulling Logan back to the previous topic of conversation. Logan did not enjoy being so easily distracted. Roman's proximity was not improving his focus. He attempted to remember what he had been saying.

“Yes, I do, but I had been hoping that perhaps this would put an end to the conflict between us. I thought perhaps if I did something you found enjoyable, you would officially forgive me.” Logan explained as they went into a turn in time with the music.

“Conflict? What conflict?” Roman questioned. 

“From the disagreement in November.” Logan explained.

“Oh you mean when I screamed at you because you made a joke about that time we kissed.” Roman said. He nodded in response.

“Why would you want me to forgive you for that? I started it.” Roman asked. 

“On the contrary, I was fully aware that the joke would upset you and that is why I made it. I take responsibility for the disagreement. That is why I am apologizing through a party.” Logan said honestly.

“I mean I didn’t realize you thought we were still fighting. I officially forgave you about five minutes afterward. But hey, if this is the way we apologize I could get used to fighting.” Roman laughed. Logan felt a light smile tug at his lips.

“Don't be absurd I would require a much different activity if you wish for my forgiveness.” Logan corrected.

“When you are mad at me, the four of us sit on the couch and watch Big Hero 6.” Roman said without hesitation. Logan was embarrassed, that had been exactly the activity he had been thinking of. He missed a step and stepped on someone else's foot as they spun. He realized he'd gotten distracted, again. 

“I find that acceptable.” He responded not expressing the strange warm feeling in his chest. He had not realized Roman knew him that well. He attempted clear his mind so he would be alert enough to dance. 

“Although,” Logan added “If you really want to make me happy you may try doing your homework.”

“Ugh! For the last time Specs, I'm not doing the history project and you can't make me.” Roman groaned dropping his head to Logan's shoulder. Logan was struggling to breath despite the slow pace of the dance. His heart rate was also significantly increased from its baseline. Logan assumed that he must be exerting himself more than he realized. Now Roman's head was just resting on his shoulder showing no intention of moving.

“Well-” Logan was going to respond but broke off as Patton approached them. Roman drew back a straightened up so he could look at Patton.

“Logan, Ro, c'mon we uh need your help with something.” Patton laughed and nodded his head in the direction of backstage. Logan looked and saw Virgil rocking backward on his heels outside the costume closet with a small smile on his face. 

Logan followed Patton over. As he came close to the costume closet he heard an unusual noise. He glanced at Patton and Virgil. They both had smiles on their faces that made Logan concerned about what he would find in the closet.

Curiously he opened the closet door and peered into the small room. He saw a familiar boy wearing sunglasses, lying on his back and giggling . 

“Remington may I ask what your doing on the floor?” Logan asked approaching the sprawled out figure. Remington, while he had his extremely helpful moments, had the tendency to be mischievous. Logan noticed that he had spilled coffee on himself and the floor. An empty Starbucks cup was in his hand. 

“Logan, Lo, L-man, how many times I gotta tell you to call me Remy?” The boy laughed. Logan winced at the variations on his name. Virgil scoffed behind him. 

“As many times as it takes for you to stop insisting on it.” Logan responded smoothly. “Are you aware you have coffee on you?” 

“Look I didn't come to you for all this negativity.” Remy said lifting his head slightly to peer over his glasses. Roman laughed. As Remy moved Logan was hit with an intense smell of alcohol. He sighed heavily. Of course Remy smelled like alcohol tonight. This was not part of the plan. 

“You did not come to me at all. I found you.” Logan reminded him kneeling down next to him carefully avoiding the puddle of coffee. Remy collapsed backward again.

“That's what I wanted you to think.” Remy said sleepily. Remy seemed to have fallen asleep or something like it. 

“Was he perhaps the purveyor of illicit liquids?”

“Probably, he never thinks of the consequences before he does things.” Virgil said with an eyeroll. 

“Will one of you please help me lift him?” Logan 

“I tried but he's didn't cooperate. He just kept Wine-ing. I told him to vodka-t it out but he wouldn't schnapp it.” Patton said.

“You done there buddy?” Virgil asked.

“Yeah I'm good now.” Patton smiled.

“Okay in that case if you all just step out and give me a little room to work, I can get him out of here.” Virgil said with a small wicked smile. Logan, out of curiosity for how Virgil intended to manage this, stepped out. Roman shrugged following and Patton left next. 

Logan was surprised when Virgil walked out of the costume closet as well and closed the door behind him. “Will the owner of a drunk, hipster, idiot please come get him the fuck home?” He called loudly. There was a murmur across the crowd. A girl rushed forward and went into the closet behind him. Logan immediately heard hushed profanity being directed at Remy. Poor idiot. 

Logan raised an eyebrow at Virgil who just shrugged. Logan did not know what caused the animosity between Virgil and the seemingly relaxed boy but now wasn’t the time to question it. Now he had another task to complete. He huffed, he had to inform Mr. Wynne that someone had brought alcohol.

“Goddammit.” Mr. Wynne said when Logan told him. He immediately started kicking everyone out. “No, no, nope, get out. Go home, all of you.” There was general grumbling. “You all don't get to complain, you did this. I should be complaining, I could get in trouble. I could lose my job if the principal found out that this happened on my watch. I'm incredibly disappointed in you” Everyone started shuffling around finding the people they came in with. 

Logan quickly found Patton, Roman and Virgil. The four of them apologized to Mr. Wynne for the actions of the others before heading out to the car. By the time they had gotten to Patton’s house where they intended to stay that night Logan’s plan for the night was truly foiled. Patton was asleep in the backseat and there was no waking Patton once he decided it was time to sleep.

Logan wouldn’t have woken him anyway, sufficient sleep was extremely important. Logan wouldn’t rob Patton of that even if unfulfilled plans caused him considerable distress. He would simply have to generate another situation that was special enough to bring his plan to completion. After all, he couldn’t do this on just any day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You didn't think I'd do a high school AU without at least one emotionally charged slow dance did you?  
> What do you take me for?


	39. Shivers and Heelys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay fair warning this chapter gets genuinely sad at points.  
> Good luck beautiful people!

When Patton woke up, he didn't know how long and important of a day it would be.

Patton got the call when he was sitting at home around eight in the morning. It honestly scared him a little. He hurried to his mom's office and asked to borrow her car because it was an emergency. 

He got in the car and pulled out of the drive. He was glad that his dad had made time during the summer to teach him. He headed toward the school and replayed the short phone call in his head.

“H-hey Pat?” Virgil had said as greeting when Patton answered the phone. “I n-need you to c-come to the theater. I’m in… I just need y-your help. Pl-please”

“I’ll be there soon.” Patton said firmly. He didn’t know what was wrong, but he was going to be there for Virgil.

“Th-Th- Thanks.” Virgil stuttered and hung up.

What had he been talking about? Was he in trouble? Why was he at the school?

Patton shook off the memory as he pulled into the school parking lot. He parked and stepped out into the cool cloudy day. There had been a storm the night before and the clouds hadn’t cleared up yet. The back door of the theater opened up to the outside so he walked in that direction. The door was standing open when he got there. How did Virgil get in? Did Mr. Wynne leave it unlocked after the party a few days ago? Patton stepped under the overhang quickly to avoid getting hit with water. The roof of the building was still dripping from the rain.

He was wondering what had Virgil worked up enough to make him stutter. Usually when he was anxious he would just act tough to hide it. He must be pretty shaken if he was letting it show. Patton entered the backstage area of the theater and glanced around in the unlit room. 

“Virge?” Patton whispered into the shadows. He was starting to get a spooky feeling. There was just something strange about seeing his school without other kids when it was empty for winter break. Patton took another step into the darkness and the motion activated lights flickered on.

“Virgil?” Patton called again, louder.

“I’m out here, Pat” He heard Virgil say softly from the stage area. Relief flooded through Patton at the sound of Virgil’s voice. He knew it was silly but the theater was spooky when it was quiet like this.

He walked onstage giggling at himself; maybe he should stop watching all those ghost hunting shows at night. They weren’t really in Christmas spirit anyway. 

He saw Virgil laying on his back in the middle of the stage. His arms and legs spread out like he was making a snow angel. Virgil pushed himself up on his elbows as Patton walked in and for some reason he was dripping wet. Where Virgil had been laying before was a big puddle and Virgil’s hair was stuck to his forehead. Patton froze for a moment feeling confused.

“You rem-m-member all that rain last n-n-night?” Virgil stuttered. Patton nodded. “Well the roof l-leaked.”

As if to prove his point a few drops of water fell from the ceiling high about and landed in the puddle. Virgil flopped backwards into the puddle again.

“Why are you all wet?” Patton asked walking closer.

“I f-f-fucked up and ma-made the problem worse so I tried to cle- clean it up before anyone could see so that no one would be mad-d. I just wanted to fix it before I could get in trouble y-ya kn-know?” Virgil said still stuttering. Wait no, not stuttering, he was chattering, like he was cold. 

“But the wa-water was s-so much and and it kept f-falling.” He explained Patton walked toward him and offered a hand to help him up.

“C’mere Virge, let's get you dried off and warmed up, then we'll worried about the water.” Patton said softly. 

“N-no Pat if w-we don't get this cleaned up then other people will find out and they'll blame me.” Virgil said sitting up but not taking Patton's Hand.

“Please kiddo come out of the puddle.” Patton pleaded, if Virgil kept sitting in cold water in the dead of winter he could get sick. Virgil scooched to the side and out of the puddle, but he didn't look happy about it.

“Why would anyone blame you?” Patton said kneeling down next to him.

“When I wa-was up there, on the c-cat walk, I saw water dr-dripping a little from the c-ceiling. I d-dunno why I touched it, I'm such-ch an idiot.” Virgil swallowed hard “But when I d-did it was l-like I popped a water balloon. All this w-water came pouring down. The leak moved faster over the f-for a while and this puddle got really big. I th-think it's slowed d-down now .” Patton took Virgil's hand in his own. It was frigid! Patton wrapped both his hands around Virgil's to warm them up.

“How long have you been here?” Patton asked worriedly. 

“Uh to- two hours. For the first half hour I tried to c-clean everything up then I gave up and laid on the f-floor trying to not freak out. Until I pulled my shit together enough to call someone.” 

“Why were you here Anyway? How did you get in?” Patton said tugging Virgil to his feet.

Virgil reluctantly followed “I left my hoodie here a f-few days ago. I forgot to grab it during the party and for the past two d-days I haven't felt up to leaving my room m-muchless the house.” Virgil shivered as they stepped into the breeze coming in through the back door.

“Mr. Wynne g-gave me a key that I wasn't s-supposed to tell anyone about, so that I could keep working on sets on weekends if I ever n-needed to. So let myself in and climbed up there to grab my hoodie.” Patton guided him to a table to sit on and walked over to shut the door so the cold air didn't get in. Even as he did his full attention was on Virgil trying to decide if his breathing was rattling of if the chartering teeth was just making his breathing sound funny.

He walked back over to Virgil. “Where is it now?” Patton asked looking at the soaking wet black t-shirt Virgil was wearing. 

“Over there, it's too heavy to wear when it's full of water” Virgil said wrinkling his nose, gesturing to a pile of black cloth on the floor.

Virgil was still shivering, Patton had to do something to warm him up. He thought for a moment before undoing the knot in his cardigan sleeves and pulling off his polo. He offered it and the cardigan to Virgil. Virgil's breathing stopped. 

Oh goodness! What did he did now? Why wasn't Virgil breathing? After a second's pause, though the sound continued, Patton's heart decided to crawl back down from in side his throat.

“N-no, I'm fine, you just…. You just p-put that back on.” Virgil said looking at the wall behind Patton and not meeting his eyes.

“Virge put it on. You need to warm up.” Patton said firmly. “I'll call Mr. Wynne and Logan and Roman. The three of them can handle this. I'll be back in a minute.” He set the shirt and cardigan on the table next to Virgil and stepped around a corner.

He gave Logan a call. He told Logan to call Mr. Wynne and then to come over here. Then he called Roman and asked him to stop by his house and grab some extra clothes.

He went back to Virgil after a minute who was now wearing his polo and his wet jeans.

“T-take the jacket.” Virgil pleaded. 

“Okay if your sure…” Patton said grabbing his cardigan and putting it on. It was more comfortable than standing in the cold drama room, shirtless. 

He slid onto the table beside Virgil and put an arm over his shoulders to pull him closer.

“The lights are f-fucked, the speakers are fucked. Everything's ruined. Wynne is gonna be pissed” Virgil groaned, leaning into Patton. Patton chose to ignore the excessive language.

“I hate to rain on your parade here but you're wrong” The pun got a scoff out of Virgil which was a lot considering the mood he was in. “No one will be mad at you, this wasn't your fault and no one thinks it is” Virgil made a small noise that didn't sound like agreement.

“Why didn't you call Logan first? He would have known better how to fix it” Patton asked quietly.

“I thought about it for a minute there,” Virgil said. Patton notice Virgil's teeth weren't chattering anymore, so that was a good sign. 

“I knew I should call him.” Virgil admitted. “He would take care of all of it, he would handle calling Mr. Wynne, and he would know how to change the budget so that we could buy more light. Or if I called Roman he would help me take care of the mess so that I didn't get in trouble. He would take care of the situation and save me from getting in trouble.

“But I was cold and freaking the fuck out and I knew you would take care of me. Logan and Roman would have too but I knew that you would help me first and the leak would be your second worry. And I just needed a hug.” Virgil yawned as he explain and snuggled in closer to Patton’s side. Patton noticed that he had started sounding sleepier during this speech.

“Well I'll always be here for those.” Patton said running a hand gently though Virgil's hair. A minute or two later Virgil was asleep against him. 

Pretty soon Mr. Wynne came walking through the door. He caught sight of Patton and looked like he was going to say something but then saw Virgil decided not to say whatever it was. Mr. Wynne headed onstage to check out the damage.

Logan and Roman came it a few minutes later, Roman was holding a pair of jeans and a black tee shirt. They walked up and gave Patton a confused look.

“He fell asleep, he had a pretty bad panic attack earlier and I think he's just exhausted. This whole situation has been a real rain in the neck for him.” 

“I got the clothes.” Roman held them out to Patton. Patton nodded.

He bent his head closer to Virgil's and ran a hand over his head, through his slowly drying hair. “Hey, it's time to wake up, Lov-Virgil.” Patton whispered, fixing his mistake just in time. 

He hated that. He hated not calling Virgil “love” and not laying on Logan's chest while he talked about the newest thing he researched. It didn't just feel like secrets anymore, it felt like lies. He was lying everytime that he didn't tell them. Patton sighed.

Virgil started shifting and straightened up stretching after a moment. He blinked a few times at the three of them.

Logan stepped forward laying a hand on Virgil's, “Are you well?” 

“I'm… I'm a little better now… or whatever… I'm close to better. Thanks Pat.” Virgil said giving Patton’s arm a squeeze. “My legs are fuckin cold though.” Virgil chuckled.

Roman handed him the pile of clothes saying, “Here, Sunshine, I brought some dry stuff.” Virgil froze in the middle of reaching for the clothes. Virgil was looking at Roman with wide eyes and looking very pale.

“D-don't call me that okay?” Virgil said sliding off the table. The faint smile that was on his face a second ago was gone.

Roman blinked rapidly. “Um, certainly. Here you go Virge?” He said recovering.

“Um thanks but I actually gotta go.” Virgil crouched on the floor and put his shoes on at lightning speed, then thundered out on a pair of what Patton quickly realized was heelys. Get it? Thunder? Lightning? 

“Bye.” Virgil said as he rolled out into the cloudy day in his still wet jeans.

“What was that about? I didn't even know he owned a pair of Heelys.” Patton said still staring at the door Virgil had left through. 

“He used to skate to school wearing them beginning of freshman year…” Roman sighed. He scratched the back of his head.

Logan's eyebrows were drawn together “I suppose this constitutes a no to us all having dinner tonight?” 

Patton’s shoulders slumped. This was the third day in a row they would be having to say no to Logan asking them all to hang out. On the day after the party Roman had been busy hanging out with Remy, the next day Virgil had said he wasn't feeling up to being around people, and today they had done something to make Virgil angry. 

“I have my appointment with Dr. Picani today anyway. I actually have to get going or I'll be late” Roman said with a shrug. 

“Well maybe afterwards. I'll see if I can talk to him and find out what's wrong.” Patton offered. 

Logan nodded. “Very Well, I hope I'll see you both Later.” 

Logan headed off to talk to Mr. Wynne. Roman gave Patton a quick kiss saying “It's gonna be okay you know.” then he headed out to his car. Patton grabbed Virgil's sopping wet hoodie and went back to his mom's car to drive home.

/\/\/\/\

Virgil tore outta there as fast as he could. He tripped a little on a bump in the sidewalk that he used to be able to go over no problem. Apparently he had gotten rusty. 

He felt bad for taking off like that but he couldn't stay there with all of them there, with Patton holding him, with Logan paying attention to him, with Roman saying sweet things. He dug his nails into his palms as he rolled away. His nails were clean now, all the paint gone. He had taken it off the day after the party. 

Not because he wanted it gone. Just like he didn't leave because he wanted to leave. 

When he had gotten dropped at home the morning after the Christmas party, Virgil had waited for his friends to drive away. Then he pulled out the makeup remover wipes that he always carried with him. He cleaned off his eyeshadow just like he did everytime he was about to see his parents. 

If he hadn't been so stupid maybe he could have gotten away with it again. He walked into his house and greeted his parents. As he was walking away to hide in his room for the day his mom stopped him.

“Virgil why are your nails painted?” 

Virgil's brain kicked into overdrive. Could he lie? Would they believe him? Why hadn't he thought to take it off? It was such a dumb move to paint his nails in the first place. What If he told the truth? What if he told them everything, all of it, just spilled it all to them while sitting at the kitchen counter? Virgil had a pretty good idea of what the last option would look like. 

His parents were good to him and supportive when he had anxiety attacks, or when he needed rides to multiple shows a week for drama. They were fine with it when he wanted to stay the night with his friends. They were good to him and Virgil knew that. 

But he also knew that there was a lot of things they didn't know. They didn't know he wore makeup. They didn't know he wasn't straight. They definitely didn't know he was with Logan. 

He kept It all safely tucked away where they couldn't see. He wiped off his makeup before walking in the house. There was a reason that he didn't bring his friends home to meet them. They had clear ideas of what a man should be and Virgil was terrified they'd find out that he didn't meet all the standards.

He heard the way they talked when gay marriage was legalized and when they heard stories about stay at home dads. They had made it clear that something must have gone wrong in these boys’ lives to make them this way. He tried not to think about it most of the time, and he could almost forget when he was with Patton, Roman, and Logan.

But then he had been a complete fucking idiot who left nail polish on when walking into his house. It was sloppy and dangerous. What would they say if they realized?

After a too long pause he decided to lie and say it was for a dare. That he lost a bet to a kid in drama and they made him wear nail polish. They seemed to believe him this time. He managed to get away to his room and started picking furiously at the polish.

He had felt like shit that whole day as the realization settled in that He couldn't live this way forever. He couldn't keep up a double life for his parents. He was so, so exhausted from the secrets. The past two years had made his anxiety worse than ever. He felt like he could barely take a breath without it being a risk.

But if he showed his parents everything, how would they react? Send him away to be “fixed”? Throw him out? Maybe. 

But the other option was worse in so many ways. If he stopped wearing makeup and dating Logan, he would be giving in. He would be saying they were right. And he would lose the people he had fallen in love with, like Logan.

“And Patton and Roman!” his brain supplied unhelpfully. Virgil sighed. He wasn't an idiot. He knew what he had slipped into here with Patton and Roman was more than just noticing they happened to be kind, and talented, and attractive, and amazing. He knew that this was more than friendly admiration. Virgil knew but knowing didn't help anything. 

He declined plans with Logan, Roman, and Patton the day after. He felt like everything was happening so fast even though he knew that it all had been coming to this for a long time. Finally, after many hours of Tumblr scrolling (with occasional breaks for trying to take deep breaths even though each inhale felt like sucking in cotton balls) he finally couldn't take the dark oppressiveness of his room. 

He needed to get out, but he wasn't ready to see any of them yet. So he put on his old heelys and rolled down to school to pick up his jacket. Shit had happened like it always seemed to. He felt the most at peace that he had felt in two days when he was with Patton. For a moment everything was normal. He was going to hang out with his friend's and they would laugh and joke. The illusion had been cracked when Roman had called him sunshine.

Because he couldn't be Roman's sunshine, He couldn't be Logan's boyfriend, he couldn't be Patton’s love like Roman was. He would lose his family if he was any of those things. 

So there he was mindlessly rolling down the sidewalk not really knowing where he was going. He was quite literally freezing his ass off and his eyes were stinging. He stopped at a bus stop and sat on the bench trying to collect himself. He felt tears slide down his cheeks, adding his face to the list of his body parts that were cold and wet.

He didn't know when he had started crying but he didn't agree to this shit. Somebody ought to tell his tear ducts that consent is important because they were being really assholes right now. He knew he probably looked like a fuckin lunatic sitting there in that bench, crying.

He was cold, lonely, anxious as frick, and he didn't know where to go. If he went home he would have to pretend he was fine, pretend he was someone else. But if he went to Patton’s or Logan's or Roman's house, he'd have to tell them what he was going through, he would not lie to them.

Virgil had a choice to make and he knew that whatever he chose, it would affect the choice he’d make when he is eighteen and it mattered, and he could leave home. No matter what today, when he went home he'd still wipe off the makeup and still pretend to be straight for his mom and dad. The question was would this be a temporary arrangement?

He stood up, bouncing on the balls of his feet for a moment turning toward the direction he would be going. He inhaled the cold air, and rolled away. Thirty minutes later he stood on a Patton’s doorstep. “I… I need to talk to you.” Virgil said shakily when Patton opened the door. 

Patton let him inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay that was a bit heavy  
> Certainly darker than usual for these lads  
> I just know that holidays are a hard time for alot of us  
> I hope your all doing okay and I want you to remember that whatever your going through there is people who can help you get to a better place  
> I don't know if it helps but if anyone needs to talk or even just wants to say hi here's my tumblr:  
> todefine-istolimit  
> I may take a few hours to get back to you but I'm willing to talk  
> Thanks for reading


	40. One Complex Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow it's been almost 5 months since I posted the first chapter (sorry guys didn't expect it to drag out this long hahaha) but I after this chapter come big things haha

“So Roman, do you how do?” Dr. Picani asked to start off their session.

“Emile, I'm an idiot and I did something incredibly dumb day before yesterday.” Roman answered.

“Now you know I don't accept negative self talk like that. Be kinder to yourself, Try again.” He corrected gently. Roman huffed. He had originally come to Emile to start learning healthier ways to express his frustration than insulting people. Unfortunately, all negative speech had been banned even when it was direct toward himself. Roman didn't see anything wrong with insulting himself. 

Roman rolled his eyes “Fine. Day before yesterday I made a choice that wasn't beneficial for my future.”

“Great. So tell me what choice did you make?”

“I got a tattoo and when I chose what it should be-” 

“Whoa hold there for me. A tattoo? As in a permanent marking on your skin?” Dr. Picani said looking at Roman with concern.

“Yes! Look!” Roman brought his left knee to his chest and tugged up his pant leg. He smiled when he saw the graceful script that wrapped around his ankle. Three words in cursive all connected with a strand of black ink. It was simple but elegant and Roman didn't regret it for one second.

Dr. Picani looked a little pale “Would you like to explain how you got a tattoo?” 

“My friend Remy has a friend who offered me a free one in exchange for practice. She's training to become a tattoo artist” Roman explained impatiently.

“Do your parents know that you got a tattoo?” Dr. Picani asked cautiously.

Roman huffed “No, they don't, but try to focus Emile. The tattoo wasn't the dumb part, the dumb part is what the tattoo is of.”

“I'm afraid I don't understand. How are these names dumb? Who are they?” 

Roman felt a small amount of satisfaction at getting Emile to say dumb instead of a nicer word. “My boyfriend and my two best friends. I was planning on just getting the one name, but once she finished Patton’s name I asked if she could add the other two. She was really cool about it.”

“Well, Roman, I doubt I have to explain how risky getting a tattoo from an amateur is.”

“I've been keeping an eye on it and it's healing fine. But your getting distracted again. The danger of bad tattoos is not the concern here. I wanted to show Patton he will be a part of me forever. I love him”

“Well why did you get...” he leaned forward to read the names on Roman's ankle “Logan and Virgil's names?”

“That's the problem, I don't know!” Roman threw himself into a laying down position on the couch with a hand against his forehead. Dr. Picani smiled lightly and shook his head at Roman's dramatics. 

“How bout you tell me more about your friends?”

And Roman did. He spent the next forty minutes of their hour long session telling Dr. Picani about the way Patton’s eyes sparkled when he made a pun. Roman explained to him that Logan was going to change the world because even though he pretended to be a robot, he really did care about people. And he talked about Virgil and his eyeshadow, and how he still seemed to have secrets even after all this time, like how he always seemed like he was scared of something. 

Dr. Picani listened patiently and waited for Roman to finish. He occasionally asked question or nodded to show he was listening. 

“Okay I have a few questions for you and I want you to be honest. Do you love Patton? You can take a moment to thin-”

“Yes of course.” Roman interrupted. “He's my soulmate.” Roman was seventeen and would be eighteen this summer, he certainly was willing to stay with Patton for as long as Patton would be willing to stay with him.

“Okay enthusiasm is good, next question. Out of your three friends who are you closest with? Who is the Woodstock to your Snoopy?” Dr. Picani said with a smile.

Roman stopped. “All of them??” He said feeling confused; why would he feel closer with one than the others? “I don't have one of them that I'm closest with.” 

“Well how bout the friend you got the tattoo with, are you two just as close?” 

“No. He's one of my best friends but it's… different.” 

Emile tapped his chin with his pen, “How So?”

“Well when I'm with Remi it's like hanging out with a friend. You know? I enjoy the time and we do things together. But when I'm with Patton and Logan and Virgil, it isn't like being with another person it's like they're part of me…” Roman trailed off searching for the right words. 

“Part of You?” Picani prompted after a moment.

“No no that's not it... It's like…” He continued. He racked his brain. Roman groaned frustratedly.

“When we're together... we aren't four different things... we're one very... complex thing…” Roman said thinking. He knew how it felt but he didn't know how to explain it to someone else. 

“Well,” Picani said slowly “it sounds to me like you've got yourself in a classic mystery gang situation,” he finishes offhandedly. 

Roman nodded forlornly. He had seen that post where Shaggy, Velma, Fred, and Daphne from Scooby-Doo are best friends but… there is a strong case for the idea that they may all be together as more.

“You think that's us?” . 

Dr. Picani tilted his head from side to side like it was a toss up. “Do you think it's you? That's all that matters.”

“It probably shouldn't be. It would be risky and illogical.” He figured that's what Logan or Virgil would say “People would say it's wrong. You’re supposed to be with one person. I'm probably just getting confused about friend feelings anyway…” Roman said, more to remind himself than to tell Picani.

Picani tilted his head and scrunched his lips to one side thinking. “We have about ten minutes left but I think there's time to start discussing it. So, let's get down to business.” 

“TO DEFEAT” Roman sang.

“THE HUNS!” Picani joined in.

“Yes I should have seen that one coming.” Picani said with a smile, which was quickly replaced with a more serious expression “Actually though, it does bring up a parallel I was going to draw.”

Roman was shocked at Picani's ability to always tie his nonsense into the conversation. Not fair, Roman tried very hard to allow his mind to wander and Picani was making even his off topic references a part of the conversation. The nerve of some people.

Picani continued “Mulan also found herself in a difficult situation. She had strong convictions but society and even her own family told her it wasn't her place. She had to decide what was more important: what was safe, accepted, and perhaps logical, or her loyalty to those she loved.” He paused for a moment letting that sink in.

“Now I'm not saying you’re destined to secretly join the army to save China, but I am saying that only you decide what's best for you. If whatever that is doesn't necessarily comply with what people think is proper, then that's their problem.”

Roman huffed and ran a hand through his hair “I know it just… scary. I can't help but th-” 

Roman's phone started playing his ringtone, “Dreams come true that's news to me how wild blueberry…” The caller ID said “Mr. Cuinn”. Roman looked at Picani.

“I'm sorry, it's Logan's dad.” Roman explained as he didn't know why Mr. Cuinn would be calling him now.

“Its alright you, go ahead and take that. We only have a few minutes left anyway. How about you just think on all of this until next week and we'll call it now” Picani smiled softly.

Roman nodded and picked up the call. 

“Hello?” 

“Roman what did you do to my son?” 

“I'm sorry?” Roman said feeling mildly offended at the accusation in the man's tone. Roman didn't do anything to Logan. He hadn't even done anything with Logan since the party. 

“Don't tell me you're sorry, tell him!” Mr. Cuinn exclaimed.

“What are you talking about?!” Roman asked feeling very confused. This earned his a concerned glance from Picani who was shuffling papers at his desk. Roman silently waved goodbye and stepped out of the office into the waiting area. 

“I don't know, he's been upset all day and I don't think he slept last night, he hasn't eaten, and even after he went out to the theater, he immediately went back in his room to research the geography of South Western Russia!” 

“What does South Western Russia have to do with it?” Roman asked mildly panicked.

“He only researches Russia's geography when he's upset! I asked him what's wrong and he muttered something about the three of you! So naturally I called the other two and then you!” Logan's dad sounded more freaked out than angry at this point.

“He researches Russian geography when he's upset? Why?” Roman said feeling more confused than ever.

“I don't know he's always done this. He was five years old and staring at the map of Russia in the atlas when someone was mean at school. I raised a weird kid, what do you want from me? The point is the three of you need to get over here and explain yourselves so we can fix this!” 

“Okay I'll be right over.” Roman said and hung up quickly. Why was everyone having a crisis today?! What next was Patton going to suddenly stop saying puns? 

“Hi Elliot.” Roman said to another patient in the waiting room. They raised their hand in greeting.

“Uh, troubles?” They said obviously referring to the phone call.

“Unfortunately yes. Good luck with your session though.” 

“Thanks.” They said awkwardly.

Roman went to his car and started heading (yet again) in the direction of the emotional crisis of one of the men he loved. He sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so it wasn't until I started writing this chapter and already had brought our dear doctor in that I realized that "Hey I haven't actually seen that many cartoons" but you live, you learn I guess  
> Thanks for putting up with this haha


	41. isupposeitsthesamereason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is the longest its ever taken me to turn out a chapter but i swear its fuckin worth it okay.

It was Noon! Noon goddamn it! During winter break no less! Virgil should still be asleep right now! 

But noooo he decided to get up at seven in the fucking morning. Roll on up to school to have a panic attack. Then go to a bus stop to cry. Next go to Patton’s house to give his Tragic Backstory (™) and cry again because apparently he was just trying figure out how many places he could emotionally lose it today. Finally here he was at Logan's house helping Patton deal with Mr. Cuinn because apparently Logan was upset. 

It. Was. Noon.

By the time they came over Logan was asleep on his keyboard on Google maps with the camera zoomed in on South Western Russia. Logan didn't sleep during the day so something must be wrong Virgil didn’t know what though. They decided to let him rest because he could use it. 

Mr. Cuinn wouldn’t stop pacing probably not sure what he should do with Logan when he was upset. Logan got upset plenty of times but he usually ended up talking to the three of them before it could get too bad. What was going on now? Why had Mr. Cuinn assumed that they did something? Had they done something?

Virgil stood next to the TV bouncing on the balls of his feet. He saw Patton looking around nervously. The tension in the room was crushing.

Virgil thanked whatever all powerful being that was out there when Roman walked in the door. Maybe he could help convince Mr. Cuinn that they hadn't done anything wrong.

“You three, sit” Mr. Cuinn said gesturing to the couch. Virgil shrugged and sat and the others followed. 

“So you all are going to explain what the fuck is going on with my son and if you don't know your gonna help me figure it out. You are all together all the time so surely one of you knows what the fuck is wrong” He said seriously. Virgil could tell he was trying to do the thing where dads intimidate people for the sake of their kid but he still had and apron on that said “Cooking is a Piece of Cake” so he wasn't very successful.

“He couldn't know what I did wrong yet.” Roman said. That made Virgil concerned but now was not the time to dive into whatever dumb thing Roman had done that day.

“I ran off earlier today but you said that he was upset before that…” Virgil added remembering his freak out as he left the theater 

“You guys don’t get it do you?” Patton groaned miserably.

Mr. Cuinn turned his head “Do you know what's going on Patton?”

“Yes I think so he’s been saying he needs to see us for a few days now i figured he just wanted to hang out but maybe he needed something” 

“I don't know why it's so important to him that we meet up but it is and you know Logan doesn't deal with feelings well on his own. Mr. Cuinn we can work this out if you just give us a little bit.” Patton stood up taking the lead. Virgil sat there blinking a moment more then got up and followed. 

Patton crouched next to Logan's desk chair. “Hey Logan? Darling? I think you should move to your bed.” Patton whispered. 

Logan startled awake with a gasp and was suddenly sitting up straight. He blinked looking around. His glasses were askew and his tie was crooked. 

“Oh you is here.” He said in his usual factual tone then scrunched his eyebrows together at the mistake “No, wrong conjugation.” 

“You are all here.” He corrected still blinking. “Perhaps I should have gotten more rest last night.” This boy did not handle a lack of sleep well.

“From what we hear you didn't get any rest last night.” Roman cut in gently.

Logan looked like he was thinking for a moment “Yes that is correct… I do not think I slept last night.” He said slowly like he wasn't sure. “However you are all here now and there are matters that require discussing.” He yawned

“Sorry Lo but I'm not sure you're in any shape to be talking.” Virgil said gently laying and hand on his shoulder. 

“But if we do not now you will all be busy again.” He said sounding confused. 

“No” Virgil promised, “we'll stay here till you wake up. Then we'll talk”

“Are you sure?” Logan said seriously. He looked at each of them like they might run off. Virgil felt bad because he technically had run off earlier. Whoops.

“Yes we'll be here Specs.” Roman assured him. 

“C'mon now.” Patton tugged his arm until he stood then led him to his bed.

“Very well, a short rest and then we will talk.” Logan sat on the bed.

Virgil walked over and slid the glasses gently off his face. Roman started undoing his tie and Patton laid him down and covered him with a blanket.

Virgil sat on the bed next to him, fingers carding through his hair as he almost immediately fell asleep. Patton sat at the foot of the bed looking through a book of rocks that Logan had, smiling like he was remembering something. Roman laid down with his head in Virgil’s lap, and pretty soon ended up falling asleep too. Virgil scrolled through his phone jumping from page to page on tumblr. 

A few times he caught Patton looking at him when he thought Virgil wasn’t paying attention. As soon as Virgil would look up Patton would look back at the book or pull out his phone. After about an hour of him avoiding eye contact Virgil had to say something.

The next time he saw from the corner of his eye that Pat was looking at him he said “Yeah Pat?” He was quiet so that he wouldn’t wake Logan or Roman.

“Virgil…” Patton stopped for a second.

“Thats my name.” Virgil said with a small smile.

Patton took a deep breath “I’m really glad you told me what was going on with you but I think it might be good if you told Roman and Lo.” He rushed out in a whisper. Virgil sighed, he knew that Patton would want him to tell them. Honestly he had just been waiting for Pat to bring it up. He wanted to tell them but it felt like he’d be asking for sympathy or something and that wasn’t what he wanted. 

“You don’t have to” Patton added “Of course you don’t and I wouldn’t tell them if you didn’t want me to but you can trust them. We all just care about you.”

“I’ll think about it.” Virgil said quietly.

“Okay”

They sat there for a long while in quiet, the silence was weighed down with anticipation over what Logan wanted to talk about. Had Logan noticed this strange tension that had been developing between them? After all this time of casual “I love you”s and dancing and kissing and falling asleep in each others arms was someone going to say something. Was Logan going to be brave enough to acknowledge that maybe this isn’t exactly your average friendship? Or was Virgil just misunderstanding a series of platonic gestures from the others? After just because he wanted to be with all of them didn’t mean the feeling would be mutual.

Roman woke up after about a two hour nap and started typing on his phone to work on some new project of his. They still didn’t talk much which was fine with Virgil because he had a lot on his mind as he scrolled mindlessly through his phone. They sat like that until almost five thirty when Logan started to stir. 

“Thank you for not allowing me to do anything important until I slept, I likely would have ended up regretting not having all my faculties for this particular conversation.” Logan said once he woke up.

Virgil laughed “That’s what we’re here for pocket protector.”

“I was needless to say rather worked up” Logan admitted. Was that seriously what he considered worked up? “A plan I had wasn’t working out and I was rather ahem nervous.” Logan stood up and grabbed his tie to put it back on.

“Well you know what they say. Plans with us Never Did Run Smooth.” Patton said in his puns voice.

“I don’t get it. Was that a pun?” Virgil asked.

Patton’s face scrunched up “I’m not sure… never mind.” he shook his head and moved on

“We’re sorry that we’ve been ignoring you for a few days, you could have told us how important this was to you.” Patton said gently as he stood up and stretched. Virgil opted to stay on the bed and stretched out on the bed

“Yeah you should talk to us” Roman agreed. Virgil nodded.

“Ahh yes because you all are such paragons of sharing your emotions in a healthy manner.” Logan said with dry humor and an eye roll. That was… a little harsh, Virgil knew he was just joking but damn.

“Jeez Lo…” Virgil said.

“What does that mean?’’ Roman interjected. Oh here we go. Roman was gonna flip out Logan would get defensive, Patton was gonna try to calm them down while Virgil stood in the corner shrieking unintelligibly. Okay maybe he wouldn’t start shrieking but he would want to.

“I was employing sarcasm as you and Virgil enjoy, your correct it’s quite pleasant.” Logan said with one of his small smiles.

“Who are you to judge my coping habits and how much I share?” Roman snapped.

“I was merely making a humorous comment. You three are not any better than me at sharing the way your feeling and yet you tell me to share my feelings” Logan said, his eyebrows drawing together “As a result I used satire to make light of an altogether hypocritical notion.”

“Well it’s not usually a good thing to jokes about such a serious thing.” Patton explained gently.

“Don’t patronize me I’m well aware that it was a riskier topic. I was merely attempting to engage in the off color humor that Virgil often uses.” He said grabbing his glasses of the night stand and slipping them onto his face.

“Off color?” Virgil didn’t realize Logan thought his humor was weird. 

“Patronize?” Patton said sounding hurt.

“Well he has a point Charlie Frown your always making all those depression jokes.”

“Will you stay out of this please?” Virgil said feeling ganged up on.

“I wasn’t trying to patronize you.” Patton sounded hurt.

“Well I seemed necessary to remind you that I do not need to be taken care of.”

“Hey don’t get mad at Patton he’s just trying to show he cares.” Virgil said. Suddenly the door opened behind him.

Mr. Cuinn poked his head in through the door. “Hey do you guys think you could argue about the nature of your relationship quieter in here? I’m trying to watch Queer Eye.” They all nodded, embarrassed.

“Great thanks guys.”

“Look I didn’t want to start a fight I was just trying to make it clear that I don’t appreciate jokes being made at my expense.” Roman said quieter

“Why? You always make jokes at my expense.” Virgil shot back.

Roman laid a hand on his chest dramatically “In jest! I never mean them!”

“Well he was just joking around too!” 

“Well I don’t make jokes about such serious topics! I simp-” 

“What about when they’re true?” Logan interrupted. They all went silent. They had been fighting but none of them had really thought that Logan meant anything by that joke. Even Roman had just assumed he was being insensitive.

“After all Roman you very clearly are hiding some rather extreme feelings yourself for these past few days.” Logan glared at him.

“What do you mean?” Patton asked voicing what Virgil was thinking. Roman looked confused himself.

Logan gestured toward Roman “Would you like to show them your ankle or should I just tell them?” Roman tensed visibly.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Roman said standing up straighter.

“Oh I was unaware that we were blatantly lying to each others faces now. Fine I suppose I’ll say it then.” Logan snapped.

He looked to Virgil and Patton “Roman got a tattoo on his ankle that we need to talk about.”

“A tattoo? Like a real one?” Virgil said shocked “I mean that's cool and stuff but why didn’t you tell us?”

“Ooo show us,show us!” Patton gasped sounding excited. This was probably not the reaction Logan had been hoping for.

Roman looked around like he was trying to find a way out. Then he huffed and stomped over to the edge of the bed. He plopped down and tugged up his pant leg.

Frankly Virgil had expected different. He figured it was a dragon or a rose or something flashy like that. Instead it was thin writing that wrapped around his ankle. Virgil squinted and knelt down to read it. He lightly touched it and Roman his jerking his leg away.

“Oh sorry…” Virgil said not sure what else to say.

“It’s fine, it’s just still healing and I wasn’t expecting it. It didn’t hurt or anything” Roman said.

“Roman why are our names tattooed on you?” Patton asked. “Do your parents know?” He continued asking the real questions.

“No… they don’t exactly know…”

“How do they not know?” Logan inquired “What tattoo parlor took a seventeen year old without parental consent?”

“It wasn’t exactly a tattoo parlor it was more of a casual…” Roman trailed off at the look on Virgil’s face. Roman put on his most charming grin.

“Roman Regis where did you get a tattoo from if not a parlor? What the fuck do you mean casual?” Virgil demanded.

“I may have… possibly... let Remy’s friend practice on me.” Roman said smiling like it was funny or something.

“We are going to finish arguing later.” Virgil said grabbing Roman’s keys from the night stand.

“What why? Where are we going?” Roman said reaching to take his keys back.

Virgil moved them out of reach. “A doctor, we’re getting that checked out. You have no clue what could have gone wrong and this person just did it, you don’t know if they actually knew what they were doing.”

“Hey hey relax Virge I already went to the doctor yesterday, its healing fine. I swear it's completely fine.” Roman said standing back up.

“You promise that you got it looked at? Its okay?” Virge said feeling shaky. Roman nodded.

“Yeah and it doesn’t seem to be infected or anything.” Patton said.

Virgil huffed and pushed a hand through his hair. “What were you thinking?” he said looking at Roman.

Roman shrugged “I wasn’t, I was feeling.” He answered simply. Virgil hated him a little at that moment, what if he had gotten hurt? Or what if the needle wasn’t clean and he had gotten sick?

“I like your Tattitude but you never did answer me Ro,” Patton said “Why did you get our names tattooed to you?”

“Well I got your name because I love you Pat” Roman explained with a soft smile “You’re my soulmate.” 

“I love you too!” Patton said dropping a kiss on Roman’s cheek. 

“That still leaves the question of my name and Virgil’s.” Logan said pushing up his glasses. 

Roman’s smile faded slightly. “Ah yes those” He laughed nervously.

“Yeah those.” Virgil confirmed. He was not in the mood to deal with beating around the bush today.

“Well, Isupposeitsthesamereason. Who’s up for pancakes? I feel like going to IHOP” He said all in one breath before grabbing his keys from Virgil and walking out the door. Virgil blinked a few times looking to Patton and Logan. He took a moment to process what Roman had said. 

Then the mother fucker offered pancakes and just fucking walked out? Bull shit absolutly not cool. You can’t just walk out after something that.

“Are you freaking out? Cuz I am” Virgil asked Patton. Patton nodded “Is it cuz your mad?” Patton shook his head.

“Oh okay... me neither… why aren't you mad?” 

“I can’t blame him… especially when I feel the same...” He said quietly and walked after Roman looking dazed.

Virgil stared after him then looked at Logan. Then opened his mouth and closed it a few times.

“How are you doing?” Logan asked stepping closer.

Virgil grimaced “I don't think I should say… I don't think you want to hear it” he said feeling confused.

“Why would I have asked if I didn't want to hear it?” Logan rolled his eyes.

“Good point… in that case, I'm having trouble breathing, I don't think I can move my legs and I think I've been falling in love but I'm not sure cuz I've never been in love before…”

“Well I have, perhaps I may be able to confirm or deny it for you. Tell me what your feeling” Logan offered also offering his arm because Virgil's legs were shaky.

“I feel like I would happily spend my life with… the subject.” Virgil said not ready to decide anything. “and like I would spontaneously combust if I ever hurt them and if they died I might.”

“I had similar symptoms and I do believe that what you're experiencing is love although I'm no expert.” Logan said dryly.

“And… and what if I'm feeling it for more than just you?” 

“Virgil, for purposes of full disclosure I think you should know that all feelings confessed in the past five minutes were fully reciprocated by me. I'm not sure if that was clear.” 

Virgil slumped down the tension that had been holding him rigid “Oh thank fucking god.” he said as he leaned into Logan's side. 

^^^^^

“Well that's it, that's it. I've caused two of the loves of my life to hate me and ruined your chances with them I'm so sorry mon cherie. It is entirely my fault” Roman said resting his forehead on the steering wheel of his car. 

“Now now don't get down yet. Maybe they're just putting on their shoes…” Patton said sounding just as pessimistic as him.

“I left my shoes inside.” Roman groaned.

Patton laughed “You walked out without shoes?” 

“In my defense I only woke up like twenty minutes ago.” Roman explained. 

“I know love, I know.” 

“What if they don’t follow us?” Roman asked.

Patton took a deep nervous breath. “Then… everything I was scared of happened and we lost to of our best friends. But that won’t happen. I know it. Even if they don’t love us they still care about us and will stay friends with us.”

“God I’m such an idiot I shouldn’t have said anything I-” the back car door opened. Virgil slid in. On the other side the other door opened and Logan placed himself in the backseat as well. 

“What were you saying Sir Sing-a-Lot?”

“Ah- I was umm…” Roman said blinking. 

“Patton what was I saying?” He whispered. He couldn’t remember. All he could think was how fricking grateful that they at least didn’t hate him. Logan gave a playfully exasperated scoff.

“Hey guys.” Patton said, turning his head to see the other two in the backseat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do you guys how long i've been waiting to make that never did run smooth joke?  
> like a month at least i just... hhhhh... i'm so glad i could get that off my chest
> 
> Kay thanks for reading!  
> One more chapter!


	42. A Fulfilling Course Nonetheless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here we go the last chapter. I hope you enjoy. I certainly enjoyed writing it.

“Sup” Virgil Said smirking.

Roman sat quietly for a moment “So… how are you three doing?” he said pleasantly

“May I suggest we don’t dance around the problem for another two years?” Logan pushed his glasses smiling lightly. 

“Well there isn’t really much to say on our end.” Patton said gesturing to him and Roman “We said what we’re feeling we just wanna know what you guys think.”

“I am…” Virgil huffed “well I have… ugh feelings are hard.” Virgil groaned “I love the three of you in the gayest and least platonic sense of the word okay?” 

Roman started laughing. Virgil looked surprised “No, no I wasn't laughing at you, just the phrasing!” Roman reassured him.

Virgil sighed in relief. He collapsed back in to the seat from where he had been leaning forward. He stuck out his foot and nudged Logan as if to say ‘your turn’.

He cleared his throat and tightened his tie. “I propose we begin a polyamorous relationship because the feeling is mutual on my behalf at well.” Logan blushed beet red and looked flustered. 

“Yeah I'm down… or whatever…” Virgil said trying to not come off as eager or anything.

“See I told you it was gonna be okay!” Patton said to Roman.

“This turned out so much better than I expected I was sure you hated us!” Roman said. Virgil laughed, not his nervous laughter laugh, a real laugh and it was beautiful.

“So are we going to car-y out this whole conversation in Logan's driveway or do you guys wanna go for a drive?” Patton suggested. “Cuz I thought maybe we could stay at my house tonight.” 

“Yes that would be fine I will go inside and tell my father.” Logan agreed.

“My shoes are still inside…” Roman whispered. 

“I will retrieve them” Logan said laying a hand on Roman’s shoulder. He climbed out of the car. 

Virgil said “I'll text my mom to check.”

A few minutes later Roman's feet were thankfully warmer and fully covered as they pulled out of the driveway. Roman started on the familiar path from Logan’s house to Patton's.

“So my father and I had an interesting discussion when I went inside.” Logan said gazing out the window.

“Your dad never stops talking.” Patton said with a smile “Its absolutely discussing.” Patton giggled at his own joke.

Roman let out a long pained exhale. Virgil groaned out loud. Logan just shook his head and continued.

“He asked if we were all together and when I started that in fact we were he said ‘It's about time’ but he also stated that we better not get up to any “funny business” in his house. I believe he was likely referring to-” 

“I think we all know what he was referring to, Lo” Virgil said quickly, turning red.

Roman clicked his tongue “Well there goes all my plans for funny business.” Patton laughed. 

Patton glanced in the mirror and caught sight of Virgil who looked decidedly paler than moments before. 

“W-wait you guys don't- you haven't-” he cleared his throat nervously “you- you know. Right?” 

Logan looked mildly interested but not overly concerned. Patton laughed and Roman sputtered for a moment.

“No we haven't.” Roman said after a moment, blushing.

“Oh okay.” Virgil looked a little relieved.

“Well…” Patton tilted his head to the side.

“Well?” Virgil asked squinting.

“We haven't” Patton reassured him “but there was an incident where we almost…” He said smiling sheepishly. Logan started coughing but it sounded like he was hiding a laugh.

“You almost?” Virgil asked feeling confused.

“We got a little carried away this one time but we didn't.” Roman explained.

A small chuckle came from the backseat and the all turned and stared at Logan in bewilderment. Logan covered his mouth with his hand and fought down the smile that had been building on his face.

“Oh no please do not concern yourself with me I was simply observing our surroundings” He was genuinely smiling (and obviously in a much better mood than before his nap). He turned to look out the window still smirking slightly. The worst part was he was laughing at them.

“Jerk” Virgil scoffed.

They continued talking the hint of awkwardness that had been hanging in the air was gone and they were soon at Patton's house.When they climbed out of the car Roman was saying “Look all I mean is that all the founding fathers were a little gay.”

“What is this opinion based on?” Logan said quirking his eyebrow.

“A variety of reliable sources.” Roman said.

“So Hamilton?” Virgil said bumping his shoulder gently into Roman.

“Well yes but Hamilton is based on fact and therefore all the founding fathers were a little gay. And also all had a crush on Washington” 

“Sounds like Washington was more like a founding daddy.” Patton joked as he opened the door to his house 

“I hate you allllll.” Virgil groaned.

“Patton that was hardly clever. Daddy is merely a synonym for father. What is the joke?”

“I'm not explaining it.” Virgil said starting to climb the stairs. 

“Me neither.” Roman agreed.

“I- I uhhh-” Patton giggled and turned red. 

Roman and Virgil made it to Pat's room and Roman immediately dropped into a sarcastic bow. “May I take your coat sunshi- pal, Virgil?” Roman stood up straight and had a frown on his face.

Virgil winced internally, he kinda wanted to curl up into a ball right there and hide until the sun went away. He had forgotten that during his freak out he had demanded Roman not call him that. It just had hurt too much when he thought he couldn't be with him. Now it was better. It was fucking weird to think that all of that had been only that morning.

Roman had turned away and was busying himself with something. Virgil touched Roman's arm lightly to get his attention. Patton and Logan came into the room bickering about something.

Roman turned back to him with a big phony grin on trying not to show that he had been a little hurt “Yeah?” 

“I'm sorry.” Virgil said.

“Pfft what for?” Roman said waving his hand dismissively.

Virgil turned to Logan and Patton too “I'm sorry.” he repeated. Logan looked equally bemused.

“I um shouldn't have flipped out earlier and run off. I shouldn't have snapped at you Roman.” Virgil rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke. 

Roman's fake-y smile slid away a bit to reveal a softer, real-er one. “Hey it's okay never be sorry for telling when something I say makes you uncomfortable.”

“Indeed we never wish to be a source of discomfort for you.” Logan said seriously.

“You-” Virgil glanced at Patton who was staring on worriedly “You weren't the source of my discomfort” 

Patton crossed the room and grabbed Virgil's hand. Virgil held onto it tightly, probably more than he should have but Patton squeezed back just as tightly.

“Then what was the source of your woe? If need be I will destroy it for you.” Roman had an air of determination and Virgil didn't doubt that he meant it.

“Its… my parents.” Virgil said walking over to the bed to sit. Patton followed still clutching his hand. 

Virgil explained his situation again. He managed not to cry this time but he figured that was only because Roman and Logan had come over and sitting close with him.

“You've been hiding this for like, two years?” Roman said when Virgil finished speaking. 

“I- uh yeah.” Virgil said. Roman leaned back against Logan and rested his head against Logan's chest. Patton was laid down with his head in Virgil's lap and his fingers intertwined with Logan's on the comforter.

“There wasn't any reason to have hidden it from us, although I do regret the lack of notice on my part.” Logan frowned.

“I'm sorry…” Virgil said quietly.

Roman sat forward and ran a hand gently through Virgil's hair “Don't be sorry.” Roman put his forehead against Virgil's.

“Can um-” Virgil realized how dumb what he wanted to ask sounded.

“What?” Roman said gently.

“Nothing I was just… I like it when you call me sunshine. It doesn't make me uncomfortable.” Virgil's face felt warm.

Roman pulled back a little “Well that's excellent because it would have been a terrible habit to try and break” He winked. 

Virgil… had a long day. It was the sort of long day that left you emotionally exhausted and decreased your inhibitions. Which probably explained how Virgil found himself leaning forward to capture Roman's lips in a kiss even though he hardly ever initiated things like this. 

They broke apart a moment later and Roman grinned mischievously. “You know if I didn't know better I would say you have a crush on me.” 

“Ugh god I hate you” Virgil flopped backward, leaning against Logan's legs. 

“Hey Virgil?” Patton said getting his attention. 

“Yeah Pat?” 

“Thank you for telling us.” Patton said

Logan leaned forward “Patton you seemed significantly less surprised than we were when Virgil told us.” 

“He told me earlier, just before your dad called and everything else happened. Gosh it's been a long day hasn't it?” 

“I need a fucking nap.” Virgil groaned.

“You could say that again.” Roman responded 

“I need a fucking nap.” Virgil repeated. Patton giggled at the joke.

Logan corrected him. “Actually at this point it would be far more logical and beneficial to simply get a full night's rest.”

“Hell yeah.” Virgil said

Roman smirked “Sweet lord I agree. And if we think creatively we might be able to manage all sleeping on the bed.”

“Oh you want to sleep with us?” Patton said wiggling his eyebrows. Roman was certain that if Patton didn't stop making all the dirty jokes he would die. 

“Well I think the solution is quite clear.” Logan said dryly. He wrapped his arms around Roman and dropped backward onto one of the pillows and pulling Roman to lay across him. Roman laughed and rearranged himself so he was face to face with Logan. 

Logan turned to Patton “I believe it's your turn.”

After a few minutes of necessary adjustments and laughing and one… or two… okay three tumbles off the bed, the four of them were settled comfortably together, and Logan and Patton's glasses were placed safely on a table. 

They slept quite comfortably that night and woke up still snuggled together.

I'm also glad to announce that they woke up that way many times after. Every morning in fact, once they left high school (they of course had to sleep at home most of the time until they graduated). 

The whole drama club of course knew as soon as they walking in after break and the support was more than Virgil expected and nothing surprising to the others. 

I would like to report that they lived happily ever after and never ran into a bit of trouble in their long lives together but that wouldn't be quite true. There were always trials to over come. But Logan, Patton, Roman, and Virgil faced them together. Whatever came they were together. 

William Shakespeare said “The course of true love never did run smooth”. While that may be true I can confirm that whether platonic or romantic or the love of a family the course of true love is a fulfilling one. These young men seem to have found that out through experience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is gonna sound dumb but it kinda feels like I'm saying goodbye to friends. I've gotten really attached to the sides over the six months it took me to write this.  
> Heh anyway I thought I would mention what an idiot I am for making the very first fic I ever wrote a polyamorous slow burn. 
> 
> If you wanna talk my tumblr is   
> todefine-istolimit   
> I'm always glad to make new friends or rant about the sides.
> 
> Anyway I hope you all have a lovely day whenever your reading this and thanks for sticking with it till the end.


End file.
